Kelvin
Kelvin was given to 214 boys in 2025, #1,036 among boys’ names; 51,855 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 45,900 Americans named Kelvin and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 43 years old and half are between 27 and 59.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kelvin by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kelvin mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kelvin is “a male given name transferred from the surname, of rather rare usage.” Its etymology gives the senses “narrow” (caol) and “wooded” (coille) and “river” (abhainn).
Of Celtic/Scottish Gaelic origin, possibly from caol (“narrow”) or coille (“wooded”) + abhainn (“river”). The surname is derived from the river. The surname was also possibly influenced by Calvert (Middle English calfhirde).
/ˈkɛlvɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kelvin?
#1,036 among boys’ names, 2025
Kelvin fell from #652 in 2015 to #1,036 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.21 to 0.13 per 1,000.
1,380 babies in 1961, the peak
Kelvin peaked in 1961, when 1,380 babies were given it (1,370 boys, #209 among boys’ names). The 214 births of 2025 are 16% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 214 | #1,036 | 0.13 |
| 2024 | 201 | #1,083 | 0.12 |
| 2023 | 232 | #967 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 254 | #911 | 0.15 |
| 2021 | 254 | #905 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 242 | #922 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 317 | #754 | 0.18 |
| 2018 | 281 | #807 | 0.15 |
| 2017 | 328 | #729 | 0.18 |
| 2016 | 336 | #729 | 0.18 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 399 | #652 | 0.21 |
| 2014 | 366 | #688 | 0.19 |
| 2013 | 412 | #611 | 0.22 |
| 2012 | 474 | #550 | 0.25 |
| 2011 | 465 | #547 | 0.24 |
| 2010 | 497 | #520 | 0.26 |
| 2009 | 572 | #479 | 0.29 |
| 2008 | 606 | #460 | 0.30 |
| 2007 | 623 | #448 | 0.30 |
| 2006 | 632 | #434 | 0.31 |
| 2005 | 617 | #433 | 0.31 |
| 2004 | 631 | #412 | 0.32 |
| 2003 | 644 | #403 | 0.33 |
| 2002 | 659 | #396 | 0.34 |
| 2001 | 618 | #404 | 0.32 |
| 2000 | 657 | #389 | 0.33 |
| 1999 | 687 | #377 | 0.36 |
| 1998 | 698 | #367 | 0.37 |
| 1997 | 598 | #393 | 0.32 |
| 1996 | 678 | #357 | 0.36 |
| 1995 | 713 | #345 | 0.37 |
| 1994 | 749 | #330 | 0.39 |
| 1993 | 774 | #327 | 0.39 |
| 1992 | 796 | #320 | 0.40 |
| 1991 | 835 | #309 | 0.41 |
| 1990 | 870 | #288 | 0.42 |
| 1989 | 826 | #295 | 0.41 |
| 1988 | 793 | #291 | 0.41 |
| 1987 | 748 | #287 | 0.40 |
| 1986 | 715 | #291 | 0.39 |
| 1985 | 741 | #279 | 0.40 |
| 1984 | 689 | #296 | 0.38 |
| 1983 | 666 | #297 | 0.37 |
| 1982 | 726 | #283 | 0.40 |
| 1981 | 650 | #299 | 0.36 |
| 1980 | 613 | #313 | 0.34 |
| 1979 | 664 | #301 | 0.39 |
| 1978 | 752 | #264 | 0.46 |
| 1977 | 785 | #257 | 0.48 |
| 1976 | 733 | #265 | 0.47 |
| 1975 | 727 | #266 | 0.47 |
| 1974 | 766 | #254 | 0.49 |
| 1973 | 826 | #244 | 0.53 |
| 1972 | 884 | #242 | 0.55 |
| 1971 | 882 | #252 | 0.50 |
| 1970 | 912 | #254 | 0.49 |
| 1969 | 943 | #239 | 0.53 |
| 1968 | 998 | #226 | 0.57 |
| 1967 | 1,058 | #214 | 0.61 |
| 1966 | 1,079 | #212 | 0.61 |
| 1965 | 1,197 | #207 | 0.64 |
| 1964 | 1,257 | #215 | 0.63 |
| 1963 | 1,333 | #210 | 0.66 |
| 1962 | 1,326 | #210 | 0.64 |
| 1961 | 1,370 | #209 | 0.64 |
| 1960 | 1,299 | #217 | 0.61 |
| 1959 | 1,017 | #250 | 0.48 |
| 1958 | 770 | #276 | 0.36 |
| 1957 | 806 | #265 | 0.37 |
| 1956 | 757 | #264 | 0.36 |
| 1955 | 530 | #321 | 0.26 |
| 1954 | 441 | #339 | 0.22 |
| 1953 | 281 | #418 | 0.14 |
| 1952 | 260 | #434 | 0.13 |
| 1951 | 181 | #501 | 0.10 |
| 1950 | 139 | #575 | 0.08 |
| 1949 | 42 | #1,087 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 33 | #1,267 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 27 | #1,432 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 21 | #1,583 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 20 | #1,513 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 14 | #1,929 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,341 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 21 | #1,563 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 18 | #1,664 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 21 | #1,502 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,439 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 16 | #1,782 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,045 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 37 | #1,060 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 34 | #1,134 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 23 | #1,446 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 5 | #3,922 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 9 | #2,741 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,052 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,891 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 9 | #2,856 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 12 | #2,461 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 10 | #2,810 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,527 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 10 | #2,848 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 10 | #2,928 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #4,673 | under 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,113 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,424 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kelvin a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kelvin has been given almost only to boys: 304 girls in 105 years of records.
Girls and boys named Kelvin: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kelvin, and how old are they?
45,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 51,855 Americans ever recorded as Kelvin. The median Kelvin alive today is 43 years old; half are between 27 and 59.
The 2020 Census counted 43,448 people named Kelvin (110 women and girls, 43,338 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 46,170 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 64 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,790 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 12,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 9,520 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,810 |
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 Kelvin born?
The states with the most babies named Kelvin are New York, Texas and California, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 4,939 | #868 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 4,243 | #866 | 1.1× |
| California | 3,784 | #1,177 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 3,659 | #1,291 | 2.5× |
| Florida | 3,353 | #901 | 1.6× |
| Alabama | 2,640 | #602 | 2.9× |
| North Carolina | 2,529 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Mississippi | 2,089 | #448 | 3.3× |
| Illinois | 2,069 | #1,393 | 0.8× |
| Louisiana | 2,034 | #724 | 2.0× |
Where Kelvin is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kelvin is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1912 it was given 3.3 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 Kelvin 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 52,665 babies since 1880, Kelvin is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 214 of their 214 babies (100%), again the most given.
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 Kelvin
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 Kelvin and names like it
- Compare Kelvin and KelvonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sKelvin peaked in 1961.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kelvin since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Kelvin: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Kelvin.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Kelvin alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.