Kye
A masculine English name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Kyle.
Name Census estimates that about 5,675 living Americans carry the first name Kye. It is a predominantly male name (94.1% of registrations). The average person named Kye today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kye births was 2016 (369 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kye. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Kye is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.7K
~ 1 in 60,397 Americans
Peak year
2016
369 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,195
Tracked since 1956
Gender
Gender distribution for Kye
Kye leans heavily male at 94.1% of total registrations, but 340 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kye as a male name
- Ranked #1,195 in 2024
- 171 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (356 births)
Kye as a female name
- Ranked #16,523 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (22 births)
Popularity
Kye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kye from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,361 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kye remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kye by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kye during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kyes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Kye, while West Virginia, Nebraska, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 95 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kye
The name Kye has its origins in Old English and Old Norse languages, tracing back to the 5th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old English word "cy" or "cye", meaning "cow" or "bovine". This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with cattle herding or farming communities in the British Isles and Scandinavia during the early medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Kye can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record compiled in the late 9th century. The entry for the year 876 AD refers to a battle between the Danes and Saxons, where a warrior named Kye is mentioned as fighting alongside King Alfred the Great.
In the 12th century, the name Kye appears in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of ancient Norse literature. The Saga of Grettir the Strong, written around 1180 AD, mentions a character named Kye Sölmundarson, who was a renowned Viking warrior and explorer.
During the Middle Ages, the name Kye was relatively uncommon but still found usage throughout various parts of Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Kye of Anjou, a French nobleman who lived in the 13th century and served as a knight in the court of King Louis IX.
In the 16th century, the name Kye gained some prominence in Scotland, where it was often spelled as "Kie". One famous Scotsman with this name was Kie Muir, a renowned philosopher and theologian who lived from 1532 to 1598 and was a professor at the University of Glasgow.
Another historical figure with the name Kye was Kye Grönvall, a Swedish military officer who lived from 1667 to 1734. He played a significant role in the Great Northern War, serving as a general under King Charles XII of Sweden.
People
Kye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kye as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,675 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kye going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 60,397 US residents.
Is Kye a common name?
We classify Kye as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,761 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kye most popular?
The single biggest year for Kye was 2016, when 369 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kye is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kye a male name?
Yes, 94.1% of people registered as Kye in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.