Kelby
Kelby is given to both girls and boys: 14 girls and 18 boys were given it in 2025 (#7,680 among girls’ names and #5,311 among boys’, #7,652 among all names counting both); 5,582 Americans have been recorded with it since 1948 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,370 Americans named Kelby and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 21 and 36.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kelby by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Kelby?
#5,311 among boys’ names, 2025
Kelby fell from #2,832 in 2015 to #5,311 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 21.9 to 10.5 per million.
277 babies in 1991, the peak
Kelby peaked in 1991, when 277 babies were given it (187 boys, #742 among boys’ names). The 32 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 12% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 | #7,680 | 18 | #5,311 |
| 2024 | 17 | #6,799 | 14 | #6,331 |
| 2023 | 9 | #10,749 | 20 | #4,977 |
| 2022 | 17 | #6,848 | 26 | #4,141 |
| 2021 | 11 | #9,248 | 24 | #4,308 |
| 2020 | 22 | #5,564 | 22 | #4,488 |
| 2019 | 20 | #6,078 | 19 | #5,053 |
| 2018 | 18 | #6,659 | 40 | #2,972 |
| 2017 | 13 | #8,545 | 29 | #3,721 |
| 2016 | 20 | #6,291 | 32 | #3,481 |
Every recorded year (73)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 23 | #5,750 | 42 | #2,832 |
| 2014 | 29 | #4,837 | 40 | #2,908 |
| 2013 | 24 | #5,573 | 47 | #2,576 |
| 2012 | 32 | #4,549 | 59 | #2,223 |
| 2011 | 33 | #4,413 | 50 | #2,489 |
| 2010 | 35 | #4,251 | 74 | #1,917 |
| 2009 | 29 | #5,012 | 53 | #2,422 |
| 2008 | 48 | #3,453 | 79 | #1,853 |
| 2007 | 47 | #3,507 | 76 | #1,885 |
| 2006 | 39 | #3,893 | 72 | #1,885 |
| 2005 | 41 | #3,615 | 79 | #1,700 |
| 2004 | 46 | #3,291 | 110 | #1,338 |
| 2003 | 52 | #2,931 | 109 | #1,292 |
| 2002 | 58 | #2,654 | 68 | #1,712 |
| 2001 | 59 | #2,580 | 108 | #1,234 |
| 2000 | 50 | #2,876 | 75 | #1,573 |
| 1999 | 59 | #2,448 | 118 | #1,121 |
| 1998 | 53 | #2,591 | 134 | #1,011 |
| 1997 | 65 | #2,142 | 110 | #1,134 |
| 1996 | 50 | #2,530 | 97 | #1,183 |
| 1995 | 58 | #2,291 | 138 | #944 |
| 1994 | 48 | #2,601 | 152 | #875 |
| 1993 | 70 | #1,990 | 151 | #861 |
| 1992 | 88 | #1,704 | 154 | #852 |
| 1991 | 90 | #1,659 | 187 | #742 |
| 1990 | 34 | #3,251 | 123 | #927 |
| 1989 | 20 | #4,576 | 117 | #940 |
| 1988 | 19 | #4,562 | 114 | #899 |
| 1987 | 22 | #3,912 | 88 | #1,013 |
| 1986 | 10 | #6,835 | 58 | #1,275 |
| 1985 | 10 | #6,687 | 52 | #1,338 |
| 1984 | 13 | #5,356 | 45 | #1,432 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,468 | 43 | #1,455 |
| 1982 | under 5 | 32 | #1,794 | |
| 1981 | 9 | #7,054 | 39 | #1,565 |
| 1980 | 5 | #11,156 | 49 | #1,350 |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,512 | 44 | #1,412 |
| 1978 | under 5 | 37 | #1,551 | |
| 1977 | 7 | #7,925 | 48 | #1,301 |
| 1976 | 7 | #7,662 | 48 | #1,273 |
| 1975 | under 5 | 46 | #1,270 | |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,228 | 46 | #1,235 |
| 1973 | under 5 | 56 | #1,085 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 57 | #1,076 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 48 | #1,190 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 44 | #1,255 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 23 | #1,750 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 23 | #1,663 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 14 | #2,207 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 7 | #3,382 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 7 | #3,453 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 5 | #4,371 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 7 | #3,496 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 6 | #3,809 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 9 | #2,929 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 10 | #2,738 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 6 | #3,633 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 11 | #2,458 | |
| 1952 | under 5 | 6 | #3,558 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 7 | #3,214 | |
| 1950 | under 5 | 8 | #2,901 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 5 | #3,972 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 5 | #3,941 |
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 Kelby a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,582 Americans recorded as Kelby, 28% are girls and 72% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kelby: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kelby, and how old are they?
5,370 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 5,582 Americans ever recorded as Kelby. The median Kelby alive today is 29 years old; half are between 21 and 36.
The 2020 Census counted 4,706 people named Kelby (1,346 women and girls, 3,360 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,224 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 61 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 559 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,050 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,090 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 606 |
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 Kelby born?
The states with the most babies named Kelby are Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, with 49% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 539 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Oklahoma | 150 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Missouri | 95 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Utah | 95 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Tennessee | 80 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 60 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Indiana | 59 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| California | 55 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| North Carolina | 54 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Louisiana | 44 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Kelby is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kelby is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1948 it was given 2.1 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 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 Kelby with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kelby
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 Kelby and names like it
- Compare Kelby and ChristainBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sKelby peaked in 1991.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kelby since 1910.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Kelby.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kelby alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.