Kelse

Girls' name

Ship + victory, through Kelsey

Kelse has been given to 91 babies in the U.S. since 1985. 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 1993, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Kelse, 2000

1 in 630,000

Kelse over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kelse: meaning, origin, and history

Ship + victory, through Kelsey

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kelse means

Kelse belongs to the name family reached through Kelse → Kelsey. Its meaning is “ship + victory”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kelse is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kelsey.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 91 girls were recorded with the name Kelse between 1985 and 2000. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1993; its best national rank was #6,095 in 1993.

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 Kelse?

Kelse had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2000, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2000: 1 in 630,000; 6 of 3,778,496 births
Among girls only: 1 in 303,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2000: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 436,510 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Kelse 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 2000 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 436,510 children born in 2000 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kelse. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kelses were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kelse was born before 1993 — so the typical Kelse is around 32 today.

Median birth year: 1993; About 32 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 86.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 91; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 86.8% of all recorded uses (79).

Is Kelse 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 1993 (15)
Years since peak: 32; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 38.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #6,095; 1993

Spellings of Kelse

Kelse is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 30.4% against Kelse's <0.01%.

Kelly30.4%473,965
Elsie12.2%190,072
Kelsey9.7%150,416
Kylie7.8%121,890
Elise4.8%75,186
Kelli4.8%74,891
Kellie3.3%50,754
Kylee3.2%50,337

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.

Kelse by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #6,095; 1993
Peak year: 1993; 15 that year
First recorded: 1985
Last recorded: 2000
All-time count: 91
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Kelse

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

Kelce Keltie Kelany Kelbi Kelaya Keliah Kelila Keliana Kelanie Kelina Kelty Kelbie Kelsa Kelyse Kellin Kelena Keloni Kelsei Kelda Kellis Kelayah Kelahni Kele Kelsye

Sibling names for Kelse

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Jacquelynn Jessenia Brea Nikole Yaritza Breonna Griselda Shelbi

For a brother

Rosendo Brandan Shaquille Tre Tylor Eloy Raheem Denton

Explore around Kelse

Top names of 1993, Kelse's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1993 Girls' names starting with K