Kalen
Kalen is given to both girls and boys: 9 girls and 71 boys were given it in 2025 (#10,483 among girls’ names and #2,086 among boys’, #4,127 among all names counting both); 6,096 Americans have been recorded with it since 1952 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,920 Americans named Kalen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 17 and 34.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kalen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Kalen?
#2,086 among boys’ names, 2025
Kalen rose from #2,123 in 2015 to #2,086 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 34.4 to 41.6 per million.
226 babies in 1998, the peak
Kalen peaked in 1998, when 226 babies were given it (169 boys, #858 among boys’ names). The 80 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 35% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,483 | 71 | #2,086 |
| 2024 | under 5 | 74 | #2,049 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 56 | #2,425 | |
| 2022 | 5 | #16,444 | 83 | #1,896 |
| 2021 | 7 | #12,817 | 101 | #1,650 |
| 2020 | under 5 | 65 | #2,155 | |
| 2019 | under 5 | 80 | #1,878 | |
| 2018 | 6 | #14,671 | 67 | #2,109 |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,612 | 52 | #2,469 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,291 | 66 | #2,122 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 15 | #7,790 | 66 | #2,123 |
| 2014 | 21 | #6,098 | 78 | #1,875 |
| 2013 | 20 | #6,354 | 84 | #1,744 |
| 2012 | 18 | #6,995 | 86 | #1,746 |
| 2011 | 26 | #5,283 | 106 | #1,514 |
| 2010 | 19 | #6,764 | 125 | #1,363 |
| 2009 | 20 | #6,679 | 140 | #1,260 |
| 2008 | 36 | #4,312 | 123 | #1,385 |
| 2007 | 33 | #4,518 | 147 | #1,202 |
| 2006 | 37 | #4,036 | 118 | #1,372 |
| 2005 | 44 | #3,432 | 120 | #1,284 |
| 2004 | 29 | #4,649 | 122 | #1,238 |
| 2003 | 39 | #3,625 | 144 | #1,079 |
| 2002 | 51 | #2,910 | 115 | #1,207 |
| 2001 | 48 | #2,982 | 133 | #1,080 |
| 2000 | 53 | #2,753 | 120 | #1,157 |
| 1999 | 55 | #2,584 | 121 | #1,101 |
| 1998 | 57 | #2,438 | 169 | #858 |
| 1997 | 52 | #2,490 | 109 | #1,137 |
| 1996 | 47 | #2,645 | 110 | #1,093 |
| 1995 | 43 | #2,809 | 141 | #933 |
| 1994 | 64 | #2,129 | 121 | #1,005 |
| 1993 | 60 | #2,198 | 133 | #931 |
| 1992 | 44 | #2,745 | 130 | #936 |
| 1991 | 46 | #2,631 | 76 | #1,281 |
| 1990 | 34 | #3,248 | 104 | #1,036 |
| 1989 | 40 | #2,778 | 100 | #1,029 |
| 1988 | 44 | #2,454 | 95 | #998 |
| 1987 | 34 | #2,875 | 106 | #915 |
| 1986 | 30 | #3,083 | 89 | #976 |
| 1985 | 24 | #3,566 | 83 | #1,004 |
| 1984 | 21 | #3,788 | 61 | #1,168 |
| 1983 | 20 | #3,871 | 50 | #1,319 |
| 1982 | 19 | #4,086 | 52 | #1,300 |
| 1981 | 14 | #5,077 | 38 | #1,586 |
| 1980 | 7 | #8,545 | 31 | #1,832 |
| 1979 | 9 | #6,968 | 17 | #2,717 |
| 1978 | 7 | #8,008 | 22 | #2,158 |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,298 | 11 | #3,482 |
| 1976 | 7 | #7,636 | 14 | #2,884 |
| 1975 | 10 | #5,720 | 8 | #4,116 |
| 1974 | 9 | #5,968 | 12 | #3,037 |
| 1973 | 10 | #5,333 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 23 | #2,998 | 7 | #4,166 |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,583 | 8 | #3,673 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,236 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,887 | 9 | #2,995 |
| 1967 | 10 | #4,434 | 5 | #4,256 |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,129 | 6 | #3,722 |
| 1965 | 11 | #4,055 | 9 | #2,889 |
| 1964 | under 5 | 12 | #2,484 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 8 | #3,186 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 5 | #4,353 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 7 | #3,515 | |
| 1959 | 10 | #4,150 | 8 | #3,149 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,059 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,261 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 5 | #5,961 | under 5 |
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 Kalen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 6,096 Americans recorded as Kalen, 24% are girls and 76% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kalen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kalen, and how old are they?
5,920 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 6,096 Americans ever recorded as Kalen. The median Kalen alive today is 26 years old; half are between 17 and 34.
The 2020 Census counted 5,108 people named Kalen (1,399 women and girls, 3,709 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,519 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 55 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 266 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,990 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,570 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,040 |
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 Kalen born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 9 | #1,833 | 0.7× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Kalen 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 31,087 babies since 1880, Kalen is the second most given (20% of them). In 2025 it was given to 80 of their 950 babies (8.4%), the third most given that year.
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 Kalen
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
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 Kalen and names like it
- Compare Kalen and CallenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sKalen peaked in 1998.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kalen since 1910.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Kalen.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kalen alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.