Head to head · Girls' names
Aubrey vs Kehlani
#146 vs #148 in 2025
Aubrey is a whisker ahead (#146 vs #148 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Aubrey is stepping back from its peak, Kehlani is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Kehlani has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Aubrey leads 5 measures of 6; Kehlani leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Aubrey #1279, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1890s: Aubrey #1359, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1900s: Aubrey #1431, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1910s: Aubrey #1608, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1920s: Aubrey #1586, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1930s: Aubrey #1972, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1940s: Aubrey #3051, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1950s: Aubrey #3781, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1960s: Aubrey #4177, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1970s: Aubrey #1759, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1980s: Aubrey #353, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 1990s: Aubrey #263, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 2000s: Aubrey #140, Kehlani — — Aubrey higher
- 2010s: Aubrey #28, Kehlani #1046 — Aubrey higher
- 2020s: Aubrey #97, Kehlani #154 — Aubrey higher
Aubrey stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Aubrey | Kehlani |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1279 | — |
| 1890s | #1359 | — |
| 1900s | #1431 | — |
| 1910s | #1608 | — |
| 1920s | #1586 | — |
| 1930s | #1972 | — |
| 1940s | #3051 | — |
| 1950s | #3781 | — |
| 1960s | #4177 | — |
| 1970s | #1759 | — |
| 1980s | #353 | — |
| 1990s | #263 | — |
| 2000s | #140 | — |
| 2010s | #28 | #1046 |
| 2020s | #97 | #154 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Aubrey
elf ruler — from Germanic *alb* 'elf' and *rīc* 'power, ruler'
The underlying Germanic name is Alberich, the same name borne by the dwarf-king of the medieval German Nibelungenlied.
Alberich → Auberi → Aubrey
How it traveled
The root is the Germanic Alberich, built from *alb*, 'elf', and *rīc*, 'power' or 'ruler'. Old French speakers wore it down to Auberi, and the Normans carried that form into England after 1066, where it settled among the aristocracy and then hardened into the surnames Aubrey and Aubery.
Kehlani
Not established
No established etymology. What is documented is the company it keeps: the element lani, meaning sky or heaven in Hawaiian, sits inside a whole family of names — Leilani, Kailani, Kalani — and Kehlani echoes them closely in sound. But this spelling, with its h, is not standard Hawaiian orthography, and no dictionary source assigns Kehlani itself a translation. Anyone who tells you it means heaven is filling in a blank rather than reading a record.
How it traveled
This is a young name with a short and almost entirely American paper trail. Its rise in US records follows the career of the singer Kehlani, whose Grammy-nominated work put the spelling in front of a national audience for the first time; before that it barely appears.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Aubrey
AW-bree
Two syllables, stress on the first. The main hazard is not pronunciation but hearing: over the phone it is easily taken for Audrey, so a spelling often follows.
- Aubs — Informal, mostly among friends and family.
- Bree — Informal short form; also stands on its own as a given name.
- Aub — Clipped and casual, common in speech rather than writing.
- Rey — Informal; drawn from the second syllable and used as an independent name too.
Kehlani
keh-LAH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Some families say kuh-LAH-nee with a lighter first syllable; both are in use and neither is a correction of the other.
- Lani — The most natural short form, and a long-established given name in its own right in Hawaii and on the US mainland.
- Kay — Informal, drawn from the first syllable; also a standalone name of much older standing.
- Kiki — Playful, family-and-friends register rather than anything that would appear on paperwork.
- Kehl — Clipped and casual, mostly used among peers.
Who has carried each name
Aubrey
Aubrey Plaza (b. 1984) — Deadpan queen of Parks and Recreation and The White Lotus
Kehlani
Kehlani (b. 1995) — Grammy-nominated R&B star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Aubrey if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAubrey is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesAubrey is 2 syllables to Kehlani's 3
- a name that feels very nowAubrey is stepping back from its peak
Choose Kehlani if you want…
- a name on the way upup 19 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itKehlani runs 3 syllables, Aubrey 2
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 82% for Aubrey
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Aubrey
Strengths
- A documented line running from Germanic Alberich through Norman French into English — nearly a thousand years of continuous use in one form or another.
- Spelled the way it sounds for an English speaker, and familiar enough that most people write it correctly on the first try.
- Well supplied with short forms already in use: Aubs, Bree, Aub, Rey.
To consider
- Audrey is the constant confusion — same rhythm, one letter apart in sound, and both in current use. Expect to repeat and spell it fairly often.
- The variants Aubree and Aubrie are both in circulation, so people who know the name may still guess the wrong spelling.
- In American records this is now overwhelmingly a girls' name, though its long history is male. A boy named Aubrey wears the older tradition, and will likely need to explain it.
Kehlani
Strengths
- Sits in a sound pattern Americans already know from Leilani and Kailani, so most people hear it correctly the first time even if they cannot spell it.
- Comes with Lani ready-made — a short form that has stood alone as a given name for generations.
- Distinctive enough that a child is very unlikely to share it with a classmate, while still being an unremarkable name to say out loud.
To consider
- The h will cost her something at every desk and counter. Kelani, Kaylani and Kehlanie are all live alternatives, and she will end up spelling it aloud for life.
- It is closely tied to one performer and one recent stretch of years. That is a warm association now; it also means the name reads as belonging clearly to this era rather than to any other.
- Because it borrows the shape of Hawaiian names without following Hawaiian spelling, it occasionally draws comment from people who know the language well.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Aubrey
82%chance Aubrey feels dated by 2040
Aubrey is coming down from a big peak (#15 in 2012). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Kehlani
40%chance Kehlani feels dated by 2040
Kehlani sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Aubrey and Kehlani in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Aubrey and Kehlani?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Aubrey and Kehlani — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Aubrey or Kehlani — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Aubrey or Kehlani?
- Aubrey, in 2025: Aubrey ranked #146 with 2,003 babies; Kehlani ranked #148 with 1,981 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Aubrey or Kehlani?
- Kehlani. Over the last five years Aubrey moved down 90 places; Kehlani moved up 19 places.
- Which is the older name, Aubrey or Kehlani?
- Aubrey entered the US charts in 1889; Kehlani entered the US charts in 2015. On the American record, Aubrey is the older name.
- How many people are named Aubrey and Kehlani?
- About 132,000 people named Aubrey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 14,500 people named Kehlani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Aubreys or Kehlanis in the classroom?
- Aubrey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Kehlani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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