Name Awesome

Kell

Boys' name

Kelly green, through Kelly

Kell has been given to 234 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1960, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Kell, 2021

1 in 678,000

Kell over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kell: meaning, origin, and history

Kelly green, through Kelly

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kell means

Kell belongs to the name family reached through Kell → Kelly. Its meaning is “Kelly green”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kell is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kelly.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 234 boys were recorded with the name Kell between 1915 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1960; its best national rank was #2,610 in 1960.

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 Kell?

Kell had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2021, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2021
1 in 678,000
5 of 3,389,958 births
Among boys only
1 in 350,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2021
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
469,949 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kell 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 2021 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 469,949 children born in 2021 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kell. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kells were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kell was born before 1995 — so the typical Kell is around 30 today.

Median birth year
1995
About 30 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
31.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
46.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
219
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 31.2% of all recorded uses (73).

Is Kell 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1960 (11)
Years since peak
65
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,610
1960

Spellings of Kell

Kell is not the most common spelling — Kyle is, with 32.9% against Kell's 0.02%.

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.

Kell around the world

Where Kell 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
    1999–2004
    #3,651
    in 2004
  • South Australia
    1944–1988
    #476
    in 1988

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kell by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,610
1960
Peak year
1960
11 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2021
All-time count
234
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kell

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

KelKelynKelsoTellKellynKelceKellonKeliiKelenKeleKelliKelianKelonKeldonKellumKelijahZellKelinKeldenKelanKeliMellKelvynAmell

Sibling names for Kell

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 Kell

Top names of 1960, Kell's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1960Boys' names starting with K