Cayla
Feminine
Cayla respells Kayla, a name that appeared in America in the 1950s and has no older ancestry anyone has traced.
How old is the name Cayla?
Cayla first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Cayla alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 10,500 people named Cayla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cayla most popular?
Cayla peaked in 1991, reaching #509 nationally. Today it ranks #4546, 4,037 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Cayla
Ours, offered as ours. Kayla is a useful test case for how quickly a name can appear from nothing: it is essentially absent before 1950, climbs steadily, and by the early 1990s is one of the most-given girls' names in America. No etymology, no saint, no literary source that accounts for the scale. It spread because it sounded right in a decade that liked that shape, and Cayla is one of the spellings that came with it.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Kayla is generally treated as a modern American construction, possibly from Kay plus a common ending or from Michaela shortened. A Yiddish Keyla, from a word for a crown, is separately attested and may be unrelated.
Pronouncing Cayla
KAY-luh
Two syllables, first stressed. Cayla and Kayla are said identically.
Nicknames for Cayla
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1956
- Most girls named
- 1999469 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #509reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- −23.1%30 in 2025, from 39
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cayla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kayla in English — spelling variant
- Keyla in Yiddish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.
Caylas among us
people named Cayla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was named Cayla
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cayla
- #4546
- Cayla on the 2025 chart
- #303
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cayla went to 30 girls in 2025, but Kayla, Kaila and Kaylah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 8 spellings went to 1,044, which makes it the 303rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,243 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 1,540 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 53,576 for Cayla itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sandi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cayla's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sandi climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sandi's path sketches the road Cayla is walking now.
Cayla 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cayla is headed
Cayla should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cayla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cayla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Cay is a plain short form that works from childhood on.
- Kayla is the standard spelling and will be written for her constantly.
- There is no documented meaning.
- It is strongly associated with one American decade.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cayla
Feminine · #4546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Caylas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Cayla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cayla?
- Cayla is one of 7 recorded spellings. Kayla is the more common one — 838 births in 2025 against 30 for Cayla.
- How popular is the name Cayla in 2025?
- Cayla ranks #4546 among US girl names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cayla?
- About 1 in every 53,576 US girls born in 2025 was named Cayla — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cayla with classmates?
- Cayla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cayla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amie#4546 · Rashell#4546 · Renatta#4546 · Raisa#4546 · Amena#4546 · Aryn#4546 · Nadiya#4546 · Jeanne#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cayla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cayla and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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