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Keli

#11,420 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Þorkell or Hrafnkell

Keli has been given to 4,405 babies in the U.S. since 1955. In 2025 it ranked #11,420 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1979, with 190 recorded.

Babies named Keli, 2025

1 in 414,000

Keli over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Keli: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Þorkell or Hrafnkell

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Keli means

Keli is a diminutive of Þorkell or Hrafnkell.

Origin, language, and formation

Keli is used in Icelandic.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Þorkell and Hrafnkell.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,356 girls were recorded with the name Keli between 1955 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 190 in 1979; its best national rank was #825 in 1979.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #14,287 in 2020 to #11,420 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #15,464 in 2015 to #11,420 in 2025.

In the United States, 49 boys were recorded with the name Keli between 1975 and 1998. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1975; its best national rank was #4,564 in 1975.

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 Keli?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 201,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#11,420
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Keli 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Keli. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kelis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Keli was born before 1979 — so the typical Keli is around 46 today.

Median birth year
1979
About 46 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
29.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
6.7%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
4,356
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 29.5% of all recorded uses (1,285).

Is Keli 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
+5,061
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+2,867
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+4,044
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.33×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
4.2%
Peak was 1979 (190)
Years since peak
46
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#825
1979

Spellings of Keli

Keli is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 28.1% against Keli's 0.26%.

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 Keli is used

Across 1910–2025, Keli was most concentrated in Oklahoma — about 1 in 14,286 girls, against 1 in 66,047 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

07 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Oklahoma1 in 14,286
  2. 2Texas1 in 33,333
  3. 3California1 in 50,000
  4. 4Florida1 in 50,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 50,000
  6. 6Indiana1 in 50,000
  7. 7Michigan1 in 50,000
  8. 8Ohio1 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. Keli has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Keli around the world

Where Keli 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
    1996–2003
    #3,594
    in 2003
  • Scotland
    1974–1978
    #409
    in 1978
  • France
    2011–2011
    #6,755
    in 2011
  • South Australia
    1966–1991
    #669
    in 1991

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

Notable people named Keli

People whose public names include Keli, 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.

Keli in other languages

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

Kelly

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

Keli by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,420
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 2,867
Best rank ever
#825
1979
Peak year
1979
190 that year
First recorded
1955
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,356
Count in 2025
8

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,564
1975
Peak year
1975
7 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
1998
All-time count
49
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Keli

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

KelsyKelisKelciKelsiKelbyKelcieKelseaKeliaKaeliKelcyKellynAreliKelaniKelleKellenKelaYaneliKelleeKelsieEmeliKelceeCaeliKellyeKelise

Names with a curve like Keli

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

CheriseEricBrianStephaineKelleeMellissaMellisaJammieStephenieAdrianeDanelleDarci

Sibling names for Keli

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 Keli

Top names of 1979, Keli's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1979Girls' names starting with K