Kay
Kay is given to both girls and boys: 37 girls and 10 boys were given it in 2025 (#3,945 among girls’ names and #7,947 among boys’, #5,873 among all names counting both); 102,545 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 60,000 Americans named Kay and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (59% of everyone recorded); the median is 73 years old and half are between 65 and 81.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kay by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kay mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kay is “a female given name, a short form of Katherine and other female names beginning with a “K”; popular as a middle name.”
Also “a male given name from Welsh, derived from the surnames, or from a rare medieval given name (as the Sir Kay of Arthurian legend), Welsh Cai, Latinized as Caius, related to the modern male name Kai.”
/ˈkeɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kay?
#3,945 among girls’ names, 2025
Kay fell from #3,632 in 2015 to #3,945 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 24.1 to 23.0 per million.
3,718 babies in 1942, the peak
Kay peaked in 1942, when 3,718 babies were given it (3,622 girls, #75 among girls’ names). The 47 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 1% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37 | #3,945 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 38 | #3,926 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 48 | #3,349 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 47 | #3,390 | 0.03 |
| 2021 | 42 | #3,643 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 42 | #3,577 | 0.03 |
| 2019 | 43 | #3,585 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 63 | #2,722 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 51 | #3,175 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 47 | #3,399 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (141)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 43 | #3,632 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 60 | #2,868 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 51 | #3,203 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 52 | #3,190 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 47 | #3,431 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 47 | #3,442 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 41 | #3,835 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 46 | #3,554 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 66 | #2,768 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 63 | #2,795 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 61 | #2,742 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 67 | #2,512 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 66 | #2,474 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 79 | #2,126 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 72 | #2,245 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 74 | #2,159 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 66 | #2,267 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 70 | #2,091 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 74 | #1,951 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 67 | #2,072 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 82 | #1,764 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 88 | #1,690 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 100 | #1,556 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 104 | #1,508 | 0.06 |
| 1991 | 104 | #1,498 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 114 | #1,389 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 117 | #1,326 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 141 | #1,104 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 118 | #1,218 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 129 | #1,123 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 139 | #1,063 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 147 | #983 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 150 | #975 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 151 | #982 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 164 | #916 | 0.10 |
| 1980 | 153 | #969 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 156 | #944 | 0.10 |
| 1978 | 155 | #916 | 0.10 |
| 1977 | 195 | #775 | 0.13 |
| 1976 | 191 | #758 | 0.13 |
| 1975 | 206 | #720 | 0.14 |
| 1974 | 239 | #640 | 0.16 |
| 1973 | 272 | #581 | 0.19 |
| 1972 | 251 | #620 | 0.16 |
| 1971 | 376 | #504 | 0.23 |
| 1970 | 476 | #455 | 0.27 |
| 1969 | 498 | #433 | 0.30 |
| 1968 | 637 | #353 | 0.39 |
| 1967 | 711 | #327 | 0.43 |
| 1966 | 856 | #295 | 0.51 |
| 1965 | 1,021 | #270 | 0.58 |
| 1964 | 1,301 | #243 | 0.69 |
| 1963 | 1,608 | #212 | 0.83 |
| 1962 | 1,878 | #197 | 1.0 |
| 1961 | 1,955 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 1960 | 1,925 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 1959 | 2,004 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1958 | 2,238 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 1957 | 2,355 | #163 | 1.2 |
| 1956 | 2,394 | #154 | 1.2 |
| 1955 | 2,327 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1954 | 2,506 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1953 | 2,462 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1952 | 2,768 | #133 | 1.5 |
| 1951 | 2,963 | #120 | 1.6 |
| 1950 | 2,628 | #123 | 1.5 |
| 1949 | 2,751 | #119 | 1.6 |
| 1948 | 2,943 | #113 | 1.7 |
| 1947 | 3,520 | #104 | 2.0 |
| 1946 | 3,358 | #101 | 2.1 |
| 1945 | 3,058 | #91 | 2.3 |
| 1944 | 3,170 | #88 | 2.4 |
| 1943 | 3,494 | #81 | 2.5 |
| 1942 | 3,622 | #75 | 2.7 |
| 1941 | 3,538 | #70 | 2.9 |
| 1940 | 3,200 | #77 | 2.8 |
| 1939 | 3,260 | #76 | 3.0 |
| 1938 | 3,114 | #81 | 2.8 |
| 1937 | 3,010 | #79 | 2.8 |
| 1936 | 2,408 | #98 | 2.3 |
| 1935 | 1,648 | #134 | 1.6 |
| 1934 | 1,430 | #143 | 1.4 |
| 1933 | 864 | #200 | 0.86 |
| 1932 | 658 | #238 | 0.62 |
| 1931 | 558 | #259 | 0.52 |
| 1930 | 351 | #358 | 0.31 |
| 1929 | 218 | #448 | 0.20 |
| 1928 | 223 | #463 | 0.19 |
| 1927 | 267 | #419 | 0.22 |
| 1926 | 224 | #457 | 0.19 |
| 1925 | 248 | #439 | 0.20 |
| 1924 | 302 | #395 | 0.24 |
| 1923 | 285 | #396 | 0.24 |
| 1922 | 281 | #391 | 0.23 |
| 1921 | 304 | #383 | 0.25 |
| 1920 | 313 | #370 | 0.26 |
| 1919 | 330 | #355 | 0.29 |
| 1918 | 311 | #368 | 0.27 |
| 1917 | 283 | #377 | 0.26 |
| 1916 | 272 | #380 | 0.26 |
| 1915 | 243 | #386 | 0.25 |
| 1914 | 215 | #361 | 0.28 |
| 1913 | 159 | #381 | 0.25 |
| 1912 | 143 | #386 | 0.26 |
| 1911 | 111 | #382 | 0.27 |
| 1910 | 106 | #382 | 0.27 |
| 1909 | 83 | #402 | 0.24 |
| 1908 | 75 | #418 | 0.22 |
| 1907 | 53 | #493 | 0.17 |
| 1906 | 42 | #547 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 49 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1904 | 39 | #532 | 0.14 |
| 1903 | 37 | #535 | 0.14 |
| 1902 | 26 | #659 | 0.10 |
| 1901 | 22 | #694 | 0.09 |
| 1900 | 26 | #714 | 0.09 |
| 1899 | 23 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1898 | 14 | #942 | 0.05 |
| 1897 | 15 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 13 | #927 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 10 | #1,088 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 14 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1893 | 16 | #751 | 0.08 |
| 1892 | 7 | #1,219 | 0.03 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,424 | 0.03 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,422 | 0.03 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,076 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,212 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 6 | #1,089 | 0.04 |
| 1886 | 6 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1885 | 6 | #987 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kay a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 102,545 Americans recorded as Kay, 96% are girls and 4% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kay: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kay, and how old are they?
60,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 59% of the 102,545 Americans ever recorded as Kay. The median Kay alive today is 73 years old; half are between 65 and 81.
The 2020 Census counted 77,013 people named Kay (74,670 women and girls, 2,343 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 70,586 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 15,200 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 35,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,950 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,950 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 713 |
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 Kay born?
The states with the most babies named Kay are Texas, Michigan and Ohio, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 6,936 | #3,559 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 6,500 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 6,260 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 5,875 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 5,702 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| California | 5,200 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Wisconsin | 4,950 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Minnesota | 3,507 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| New York | 3,461 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Iowa | 3,393 | not ranked | 1.9× |
Where Kay is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kay is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
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 Kay 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 188,310 babies since 1880, Kay is the most given (54% of them). In 2025 it was given to 47 of their 2,678 babies (1.8%), the sixth 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 Kay
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 Kay and names like it
- Compare Kay and KaiaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sKay peaked in 1942.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kay since 1910.
- The top names of 1942The year the most babies were named Kay.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Kay alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with KMost given first.