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Kala

#9,762 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Kala has been given to 7,772 babies in the U.S. since 1943. In 2025 it ranked #9,762 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1989, with 525 recorded.

Babies named Kala, 2025

1 in 332,000

Kala over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kala: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

the Bible

What Kala means

Kala has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Kala

One of the source’s documented entries for Kala records a meaning of art form, virtue.

A separate documented entry treats Kala as a form of Sarah. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Kala is used in Hawaiian. Its origins include the Bible.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Sara.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hawaiian, Kala is pronounced /ˈka.la/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,680 girls were recorded with the name Kala between 1943 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 525 in 1989; its best national rank was #462 in 1989.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,558 in 2020 to #9,762 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,652 in 2015 to #9,762 in 2025.

In the United States, 92 boys were recorded with the name Kala between 1972 and 2010. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1976; its best national rank was #3,859 in 1976.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kala?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 161,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#9,762
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kala sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kala. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kalas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kala was born before 1990 — so the typical Kala is around 35 today.

Median birth year
1990
About 35 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
39.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
12.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
7,630
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 39.0% of all recorded uses (2,996).

Is Kala rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,081
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,204
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−5,110
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.33×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
1.9%
Peak was 1989 (525)
Years since peak
36
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#462
1989

Spellings of Kala

Kala is not the most common spelling — Sara is, with 7.3% against Kala's 0.13%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kala is used

Across 1910–2025, Kala was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 12,500 girls, against 1 in 28,650 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in —).

08 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 12,500
  2. 2Tennessee1 in 12,500
  3. 3Alabama1 in 14,286
  4. 4Georgia1 in 14,286
  5. 5Kentucky1 in 14,286
  6. 6South Carolina1 in 14,286
  7. 7Florida1 in 16,667
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 16,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Kala has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kala around the world

Where Kala ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2020
    #5,493
    in 2020
  • France
    2018–2018
    #7,526
    in 2018
  • Canada
    1991–2021
    #3,354
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1984–2009
    #818
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Kala

People whose public names include Kala, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Kala by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#9,762
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,204
Best rank ever
#462
1989
Peak year
1989
525 that year
First recorded
1943
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,680
Count in 2025
10

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,859
1976
Peak year
1976
9 that year
First recorded
1972
Last recorded
2010
All-time count
92
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kala

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KalynKaliaKalliKalieKaleaKaleyKaleeKaliNalaKalaniKallieTalaKaleahKalinaKaleiKalynnKalenKallyGalaKalenaKaliahJalaHalaLala

Names with a curve like Kala

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Kala, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KrystaKristianBreanneAshlieKristynAshliDomoniqueShainaAlexanderJerricaMeaghanKrysten

Sibling names for Kala

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kala

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