Kalei
Kalei is given to both girls and boys: 12 girls and 11 boys were given it in 2025 (#8,603 among girls’ names and #7,416 among boys’, #9,517 among all names counting both); 2,224 Americans have been recorded with it since 1973 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,200 Americans named Kalei and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 14 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kalei by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kalei mean?
Wiktionary, Hawaiian section
Kalei is “a male or (less commonly today) female given name from Hawaiian” Its etymology gives the senses “the” (ka) and “lei, wreath; child” (lei).
ka (“the”) + lei (“lei, wreath; child”). Also short form of compound names beginning with Kalei-.
/kaˈlei̯/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Hawaiian section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kalei?
#8,603 among girls’ names, 2025
Kalei fell from #4,447 in 2015 to #8,603 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 17.9 to 7.5 per million.
142 babies in 2003, the peak
Kalei peaked in 2003, when 142 girls were given it, #1,402 among girls’ names. The 23 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 16% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #8,603 | 11 | #7,416 |
| 2024 | 25 | #5,217 | 7 | #10,391 |
| 2023 | 34 | #4,233 | 7 | #10,227 |
| 2022 | 33 | #4,329 | 17 | #5,532 |
| 2021 | 29 | #4,674 | 13 | #6,497 |
| 2020 | 40 | #3,712 | 13 | #6,463 |
| 2019 | 31 | #4,488 | 7 | #10,276 |
| 2018 | 25 | #5,236 | 11 | #7,364 |
| 2017 | 28 | #4,865 | 12 | #6,895 |
| 2016 | 34 | #4,301 | 11 | #7,374 |
Every recorded year (46)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 32 | #4,447 | 6 | #11,390 |
| 2014 | 33 | #4,400 | 6 | #11,411 |
| 2013 | 48 | #3,343 | 8 | #9,215 |
| 2012 | 42 | #3,750 | 5 | #13,226 |
| 2011 | 30 | #4,742 | 9 | #8,423 |
| 2010 | 51 | #3,228 | 5 | #13,263 |
| 2009 | 70 | #2,628 | 6 | #11,707 |
| 2008 | 53 | #3,185 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 82 | #2,338 | 11 | #7,342 |
| 2006 | 89 | #2,173 | 8 | #9,141 |
| 2005 | 95 | #1,996 | 10 | #7,394 |
| 2004 | 88 | #2,078 | 6 | #10,653 |
| 2003 | 142 | #1,402 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 90 | #1,957 | 8 | #8,048 |
| 2001 | 100 | #1,783 | 8 | #7,923 |
| 2000 | 98 | #1,780 | 7 | #8,660 |
| 1999 | 104 | #1,613 | 10 | #6,265 |
| 1998 | 98 | #1,648 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 79 | #1,869 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 31 | #3,581 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 28 | #3,820 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 27 | #3,941 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,754 | 5 | #9,451 |
| 1992 | 19 | #5,138 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 15 | #6,074 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 21 | #4,583 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 21 | #4,419 | 5 | #8,544 |
| 1988 | 14 | #5,732 | 5 | #7,887 |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,016 | 6 | #6,527 |
| 1986 | 15 | #5,062 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 6 | #6,157 | |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,569 | 7 | #5,263 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,130 | 6 | #5,865 |
| 1980 | 9 | #7,046 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 8 | #4,115 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 6 | #4,800 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Kalei a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,224 Americans recorded as Kalei, 88% are girls and 12% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kalei: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kalei, and how old are they?
2,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,224 Americans ever recorded as Kalei. The median Kalei alive today is 22 years old; half are between 14 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 1,989 people named Kalei (1,698 women and girls, 291 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,975 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 21 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 257 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,390 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 530 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Kalei born?
The states with the most babies named Kalei are California, Texas and Hawaii, with 63% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Hawaii is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 222 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 113 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Hawaii | 51 | not ranked | 5.9× |
| Florida | 46 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 36 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| North Carolina | 33 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 19 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Georgia | 18 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 17 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| New York | 13 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Kalei with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 266,605 babies since 1880, Kalei is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 23 of their 3,301 babies (<1%), again the eighth most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kalei
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1970-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Reilly | 10,088 |
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Kalei and names like it
- Compare Kalei and KayleeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sKalei peaked in 2003.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kalei since 1910.
- Hawaiian namesWiktionary’s origin for Kalei: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2003The year the most babies were named Kalei.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kalei alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.