What does Kaylee mean?
Kaylee is a modern English name combining the sounds kay and lee.
It can also be used as a respelling of the surnames Cayley or Keeley. These different routes help explain why Kaylee belongs to a large group of closely related modern spellings, including Kayleigh, Kayley, and Kailey.
A modern name with several spellings
Kaylee became increasingly familiar during the later twentieth century, especially from the 1980s onward. Earlier American examples exist, but the name's greatest growth came with the broader popularity of similar kay and lee combinations.
Its spelling makes the two sounds particularly clear: Kay forms the first syllable, and lee supplies the second. Kayleigh and Kayley represent the same familiar rhythm with different written endings.
The surname connections provide another part of the story. Cayley is a family name, while Keeley belongs to an Irish surname tradition. Some uses of Kaylee preserve one of those family-name links alongside the name's modern English sound.
Kaylee McKeown and international swimming
Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown gives the name a prominent sporting association. She joined the senior national team at fifteen, following her older sister Taylor into international swimming.
In 2017, she finished fourth in the world championship 200-meter backstroke final. At the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, she won gold in the 50-meter backstroke, along with silver and bronze medals in other events.
Her senior Olympic breakthrough came at the Tokyo Games held in 2021. She won the women's 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke titles and added gold with Australia's women's medley relay team.
A second Olympic backstroke double
McKeown defended both individual backstroke titles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Those victories made her the first Australian Olympian in any sport to win four individual gold medals.
She earned five medals in Paris altogether, adding women's medley relay silver, mixed medley relay bronze, and 200-meter individual medley bronze to her two golds. Her achievements connect Kaylee with a particularly successful period in Australian swimming.
Pronunciation and related names
Kaylee is pronounced KAY-lee, with stress on the first syllable. The opening rhymes with day, and the ending has the ee sound in see.
Kayleigh, Kayley, Kailey, Kaleigh, Caylee, and Kaley are established related spellings. Kay and Lee also work as separate names, while the combined Kaylee keeps their sounds together in two syllables.
Kaylee in the United States
Kaylee reached both its largest American girls' count and its best rank in 2009, with 7,219 babies and a position of No. 26. It ranked No. 61 in 2015, No. 117 in 2020, and No. 255 in 2025. Its strongest American period came before McKeown's senior Olympic victories.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history 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: Kaylee (English)
- U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations
- Wikidata: Kaylee McKeown
- Wikidata: Kaylee Hottle
- Wikidata: Kaylee DeFer
- Wikidata: Kaylee Marie Kaneshiro
- Wiktionary: Kaylee
- Wiktionary: Cayley
- Wiktionary: Keeley
- Australian Olympic Committee: Kaylee McKeown
- Australian Olympic Committee: Historic backstroke double
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Kaylee?
In 2025, Kaylee ranked #255 among girls in the United States, with 1,205 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1943; its largest annual count was 7,219 in 2009. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.