Kelle
Kelle was last recorded in 2003, when 5 babies were given it; 2,345 Americans have been recorded with it between 1950 and 2003 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,130 Americans named Kelle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 56 years old and half are between 46 and 62.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kelle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Kelle?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,070, in 2003; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
100 babies in 1962, the peak
Kelle peaked in 1962, when 100 girls were given it, #1,085 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 5 | #17,070 | 2.7 |
| 2002 | 9 | #10,663 | 5.0 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,528 | 5.5 |
| 1999 | 5 | #15,604 | 2.8 |
| 1998 | 6 | #13,255 | 3.4 |
| 1996 | 13 | #6,925 | 7.4 |
| 1995 | 12 | #7,279 | 6.8 |
| 1994 | 15 | #6,151 | 8.4 |
| 1993 | 27 | #3,924 | 14.9 |
| 1992 | 28 | #3,819 | 15.2 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 26 | #3,985 | 13.9 |
| 1990 | 23 | #4,305 | 12.1 |
| 1989 | 26 | #3,824 | 14.1 |
| 1988 | 29 | #3,342 | 16.3 |
| 1987 | 34 | #2,876 | 19.6 |
| 1986 | 29 | #3,162 | 16.9 |
| 1985 | 32 | #2,893 | 18.6 |
| 1984 | 43 | #2,273 | 25.5 |
| 1983 | 53 | #1,939 | 31.7 |
| 1982 | 41 | #2,394 | 24.2 |
| 1981 | 48 | #2,138 | 28.8 |
| 1980 | 51 | #2,056 | 30.7 |
| 1979 | 69 | #1,634 | 43.0 |
| 1978 | 59 | #1,759 | 38.5 |
| 1977 | 70 | #1,545 | 45.7 |
| 1976 | 45 | #1,982 | 30.7 |
| 1975 | 42 | #2,076 | 28.8 |
| 1974 | 48 | #1,832 | 32.7 |
| 1973 | 53 | #1,696 | 36.3 |
| 1972 | 48 | #1,794 | 31.6 |
| 1971 | 82 | #1,318 | 49.3 |
| 1970 | 90 | #1,244 | 51.5 |
| 1969 | 96 | #1,132 | 56.9 |
| 1968 | 94 | #1,102 | 57.3 |
| 1967 | 82 | #1,178 | 49.7 |
| 1966 | 86 | #1,147 | 50.8 |
| 1965 | 86 | #1,151 | 48.7 |
| 1964 | 83 | #1,216 | 43.8 |
| 1963 | 95 | #1,121 | 49.3 |
| 1962 | 100 | #1,085 | 50.8 |
| 1961 | 91 | #1,158 | 45.1 |
| 1960 | 82 | #1,204 | 40.6 |
| 1959 | 83 | #1,170 | 41.0 |
| 1958 | 43 | #1,642 | 21.4 |
| 1957 | 41 | #1,694 | 20.1 |
| 1956 | 19 | #2,668 | 9.5 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,469 | 6.1 |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,405 | 6.2 |
| 1953 | 9 | #4,083 | 4.8 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,201 | 3.2 |
| 1951 | 5 | #5,805 | 2.8 |
| 1950 | 6 | #5,004 | 3.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kelle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,345 Americans recorded as Kelle, 98% are girls and 2% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kelle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kelle, and how old are they?
2,130 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 2,345 Americans ever recorded as Kelle. The median Kelle alive today is 56 years old; half are between 46 and 62.
The 2020 Census counted 2,320 people named Kelle (2,197 women and girls, 123 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,194 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 588 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,030 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 485 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 35 |
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 Kelle born?
The states with the most babies named Kelle are California, Texas and Michigan, with 57% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 190 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 147 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 66 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 54 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 51 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Illinois | 36 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Oklahoma | 32 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Indiana | 26 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New York | 24 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Missouri | 21 | not ranked | 0.4× |
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 Kelle 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 767,419 babies since 1880, Kelle is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 993 babies recorded by SSA was a Kelle (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Kelle
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 Kelle and names like it
- Compare Kelle and KellyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sKelle peaked in 1962.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kelle since 1910.
- The top names of 1962The year the most babies were named Kelle.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Kelle alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.