Name Awesome

Kaye

#6,441 in 2025Girls' name

Variant of Kay

Kaye has been given to 13,707 babies in the U.S. since 1901. In 2025 it ranked #6,441 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1947, with 538 recorded.

Babies named Kaye, 2025

1 in 184,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kaye: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Kay

surname transfer and English

What Kaye means

Kaye is a variant of Kay.

Meaning behind the documented name family

Kaye is a variant of Kay. Kay has more than one origin or interpretation.

Origin, language, and formation

Kaye is used in English, Cebuano and Tagalog. Its origins include surname transfer and English.

Kaye is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kay.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Kaye is pronounced /ˈkeɪ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,204 girls were recorded with the name Kaye between 1901 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 538 in 1947; its best national rank was #322 in 1943.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #9,903 in 2020 to #6,441 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #7,435 in 2015 to #6,441 in 2025.

In the United States, 503 boys were recorded with the name Kaye between 1920 and 1957. Its highest annual count was 63 in 1932; its best national rank was #805 in 1932.

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 Kaye?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 184,000
18 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 89,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#6,441
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
127,662 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kaye 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 127,662 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kaye. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kayes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kaye was born before 1950 — so the typical Kaye is around 75 today.

Median birth year
1950
About 75 years old
Biggest decade
1940s
32.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.2%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
6,936
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1940s — 32.8% of all recorded uses (4,334).

Is Kaye 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
+2,796
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+3,462
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+994
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.13×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
3.3%
Peak was 1947 (538)
Years since peak
78
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#322
1943

Spellings of Kaye

Kaye is not the most common spelling — Karen is, with 26.2% against Kaye's 0.35%.

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 Kaye is used

Across 1910–2025, Kaye was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 2,703 girls, against 1 in 14,372 across all states with data. It was least common in New Mexico (1 in 100,000).

137 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 2,703
  2. 2Idaho1 in 4,762
  3. 3Wisconsin1 in 5,882
  4. 4Iowa1 in 6,250
  5. 5Oklahoma1 in 6,667
  6. 6South Dakota1 in 6,667
  7. 7North Dakota1 in 7,143
  8. 8Michigan1 in 7,692

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. Kaye has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kaye around the world

Where Kaye 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
    1996–2011
    #5,785
    in 2011
  • Scotland
    1974–2003
    #553
    in 2003
  • Canada
    2005–2021
    #3,354
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1944–2012
    #871
    in 2012
  • New South Wales
    1952–1952
    #94
    in 1952

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada, Consumer and Business Services (South Australia) and NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages. ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA, NSW BDM data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Kaye

People whose public names include Kaye, 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.

Kaye by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#6,441
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 3,462
Best rank ever
#322
1943
Peak year
1947
538 that year
First recorded
1901
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
13,204
Count in 2025
18

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#805
1932
Peak year
1932
63 that year
First recorded
1920
Last recorded
1957
All-time count
503
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kaye

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

KayaKayliKaylynKaylinKayceeKayleyKayleKaydenKaylieKaylenKayceKaylahKaylynnKaylaniKaylanKayleenKayKayciJayeKayleaFayeRayeMayeKaycie

Names with a curve like Kaye

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

MarvaSherrillSaundraSharronRoseannDianMaryanneDiannDeloisMarileeMerryCarlene

Sibling names for Kaye

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 Kaye

Top names of 1947, Kaye's peak yearThe 1940s in fullOther names that peaked in 1943Girls' names starting with KCatherine Variations & Nicknames