Kellen
Kellen was given to 202 boys in 2025, #1,069 among boys’ names; 18,307 Americans have been recorded with it since 1954 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 17,900 Americans named Kellen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 13 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kellen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kellen mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kellen is “a male or female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kellen?
#1,069 among boys’ names, 2025
Kellen fell from #507 in 2015 to #1,069 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.30 to 0.12 per 1,000.
954 babies in 2012, the peak
Kellen peaked in 2012, when 954 babies were given it (932 boys, #337 among boys’ names). The 207 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 22% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 202 | #1,069 | 0.12 |
| 2024 | 216 | #1,034 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 251 | #920 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 299 | #831 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 271 | #863 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 291 | #799 | 0.17 |
| 2019 | 308 | #770 | 0.17 |
| 2018 | 347 | #699 | 0.19 |
| 2017 | 420 | #623 | 0.23 |
| 2016 | 440 | #611 | 0.23 |
Every recorded year (62)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 569 | #507 | 0.30 |
| 2014 | 672 | #444 | 0.35 |
| 2013 | 759 | #394 | 0.40 |
| 2012 | 932 | #337 | 0.49 |
| 2011 | 880 | #344 | 0.46 |
| 2010 | 840 | #359 | 0.44 |
| 2009 | 653 | #431 | 0.33 |
| 2008 | 628 | #447 | 0.31 |
| 2007 | 519 | #511 | 0.25 |
| 2006 | 487 | #525 | 0.24 |
| 2005 | 471 | #521 | 0.24 |
| 2004 | 475 | #513 | 0.24 |
| 2003 | 387 | #574 | 0.20 |
| 2002 | 270 | #680 | 0.14 |
| 2001 | 242 | #723 | 0.12 |
| 2000 | 266 | #670 | 0.14 |
| 1999 | 223 | #730 | 0.12 |
| 1998 | 192 | #798 | 0.10 |
| 1997 | 190 | #778 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 207 | #739 | 0.11 |
| 1995 | 227 | #701 | 0.12 |
| 1994 | 164 | #830 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 184 | #777 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 171 | #797 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 189 | #739 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 234 | #657 | 0.11 |
| 1989 | 229 | #659 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 290 | #536 | 0.15 |
| 1987 | 294 | #523 | 0.16 |
| 1986 | 318 | #493 | 0.17 |
| 1985 | 355 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1984 | 342 | #453 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 383 | #419 | 0.21 |
| 1982 | 408 | #412 | 0.22 |
| 1981 | 191 | #617 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 44 | #1,439 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 11 | #3,698 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,308 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,359 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 5 | #5,912 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,383 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,199 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,496 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,474 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #3,518 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,777 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 9 | #2,939 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 8 | #3,158 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 11 | #2,564 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,209 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 5 | #4,135 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #4,104 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kellen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 18,307 Americans recorded as Kellen, 7% are girls and 93% boys. In 2025 it went to 5 girls and 202 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kellen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kellen, and how old are they?
17,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 18,307 Americans ever recorded as Kellen. The median Kellen alive today is 18 years old; half are between 13 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 15,967 people named Kellen (1,353 women and girls, 14,614 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 16,493 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 78 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 128 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,590 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 7,930 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,160 |
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 Kellen born?
The states with the most babies named Kellen are Texas, California and Pennsylvania, with 28% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 15 | #1,325 | 0.5× |
| California | 14 | #1,337 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 13 | #690 | 0.8× |
| Washington | 12 | #591 | 2.7× |
| Illinois | 11 | #777 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 9 | #536 | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 8 | #875 | 1.0× |
| Virginia | 8 | #840 | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 7 | #811 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 6 | #1,181 | 1.1× |
Where Kellen is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kellen is most over-represented in Washington: since 1954 it was given 2.7 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 Kellen 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 39,847 babies since 1880, Kellen is the most given (46% of them). In 2025 it was given to 207 of their 612 babies (34%), the second 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 Kellen
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 Kellen and names like it
- Compare Kellen and KellanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sKellen peaked in 2012.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kellen since 1910.
- The top names of 2012The year the most babies were named Kellen.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kellen alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.