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Kalai

#5,117 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Form of Sarai

Kalai has been given to 318 babies in the U.S. since 1998. In 2025 it ranked #5,117 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 19 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 77% boys, 23% girls all-time.

Babies named Kalai, 2025

1 in 174,000

Kalai over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Kalai over time

In 2025, Kalai went to 21% girls and 79% boys.

19912025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Kalai: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Sarai

the Bible

What Kalai means

Kalai is a form of Sarai.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Sarai.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hawaiian, Kalai is pronounced /kaˈlai̯/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 246 boys were recorded with the name Kalai between 1998 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2025; its best national rank was #5,117 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,462 in 2020 to #5,117 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,071 in 2015 to #5,117 in 2025.

In the United States, 72 girls were recorded with the name Kalai between 1991 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 10 in 2019; its best national rank was #10,092 in 2019.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #10,662 in 2020 to #16,036 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #15,395 in 2015 to #16,036 in 2025.

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 Kalai?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 174,000
19 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 89,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,117
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
120,943 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kalai sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 120,943 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kalai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kalais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kalai was born before 2011 — so the typical Kalai is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
40.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
91.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
246
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 40.7% of all recorded uses (100).

Is Kalai 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
+3,538
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,345
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+4,954
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.71×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (19)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,117
2025

Spellings of Kalai

Kalai is not the most common spelling — Alan is, with 51.7% against Kalai's 0.04%.

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 Kalai is used

Across 1910–2025, Kalai was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 6,250 boys, against 1 in 6,223 across all states with data.

1616 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 6,250

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Kalai has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kalai around the world

Where Kalai 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.

  • South Australia
    1997–2011
    #487
    in 2011

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kalai by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,117
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,345
Best rank ever
#5,117
2025
Peak year
2025
19 that year
First recorded
1998
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
246
Count in 2025
19

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#16,036
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,374
Best rank ever
#10,092
2019
Peak year
2019
10 that year
First recorded
1991
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
72
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Kalai

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

KalevKaleiKalixKaledKaletKalumKallaiKalyanKallinKaliqKalmenKalemKaleemKalethKalidKalonKalikKaldenKaleelKalybKaloKalilKalynKalijah

Sibling names for Kalai

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 Kalai

Top names of 2025, Kalai's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with K