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Kayley

#3,428 in 2025Girls' name

Variant of Kaylee

Kayley has been given to 8,586 babies in the U.S. since 1977. In 2025 it ranked #3,428 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1999, with 461 recorded.

Babies named Kayley, 2025

1 in 73,700

Kayley over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kayley: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Kaylee

surname transfer

What Kayley means

Kayley is a variant of Kaylee.

Origin, language, and formation

Kayley is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

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

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kaylee.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Kayley is pronounced /ˈkeɪli/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 8,586 girls were recorded with the name Kayley between 1977 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 461 in 1999; its best national rank was #548 in 1999.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,248 in 2020 to #3,428 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,630 in 2015 to #3,428 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 Kayley?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 73,700
45 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 35,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,428
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
51,066 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kayley 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 51,066 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kayley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kayleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kayley was born before 2003 — so the typical Kayley is around 22 today.

Median birth year
2003
About 22 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
42.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
60.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
8,586
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 42.8% of all recorded uses (3,679).

Is Kayley 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
−172
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,180
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,798
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.34×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
9.8%
Peak was 1999 (461)
Years since peak
26
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#548
1999

Spellings of Kayley

Kayley is not the most common spelling — Kayla is, with 18.9% against Kayley's 0.47%.

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 Kayley is used

Across 2016–2025, Kayley was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 14,286 girls, against 1 in 26,504 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

17 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 14,286
  2. 2New York1 in 16,667
  3. 3Florida1 in 20,000
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 33,333
  5. 5Massachusetts1 in 50,000
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 50,000
  7. 7Tennessee1 in 50,000
  8. 8Texas1 in 50,000

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.

Kayley around the world

Where Kayley 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
    1996–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1986–2018
    #502
    in 2018
  • Northern Ireland
    1998–2023
    #391
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    1995–2025
    #885
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2023
    #2,672
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1970–2013
    #328
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Kayley in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Kayley. Linked forms have their own page here.

KaleyKayleCayleyKaylee

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Kayley by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,428
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,180
Best rank ever
#548
1999
Peak year
1999
461 that year
First recorded
1977
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
8,586
Count in 2025
45

Names similar to Kayley

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

KayceeKaydenKaylenKaylahKaylynKaylanKaylinKayleenKayliKaylieKayleaKaylaniKaylynnKaycieKaydeeKayleneKarleyKayleiKenleyTenleyHenleyKeeleyKayleBriley

Names with a curve like Kayley

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

SydneeKiannaSavanahShyanneJasmynJazmynTatiannaShyannJazmyneDestiniLizethShaylee

Sibling names for Kayley

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 Kayley

Top names of 1999, Kayley's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1999Girls' names starting with K