Kailee
Feminine
Kailee is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 12,925 girls against 28 boys since 1880.
Kailee joins a Kai- front to the -lee ending, and the Kai may be Kay, the letter written out, or the front of Kayla.
How old is the name Kailee?
Kailee first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Kailee alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 13,000 people named Kailee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kailee most popular?
Kailee peaked in 1999, reaching #485 nationally. Today it ranks #1962, 1,477 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kay to Kailee
The story of Kailee
Kay and Kayla rose through the twentieth century, and the -lee and -leigh endings were attaching to fronts from the 1990s. Kailee appears in the American registers from that decade alongside Kaylee, Kayleigh, Kaley and Cailey — five or more spellings of one sound at once. It is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Kai- front may be the letter K written out, a short form of Katherine, or the Kay- of Kayla, whose own origin is disputed. The -lee ending is from the Old English leah, 'clearing'. Neither half resolves cleanly, and honest sources record it as a modern compound.
How the name formed
- Kay
- Kailee
Related forms: Kaylee · Kayleigh · Cailey
Pronouncing Kailee
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.
Nicknames for Kailee
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
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 2003584 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #485reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- −4.9%98 in 2025, from 103
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.
Kailee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaylee in English — spelling variant
- Kayleigh in English — spelling variant
- Cailey in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Kailees among us
people named Kailee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 16,401 born in 2025 was named Kailee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kailee
- #1962
- Kailee on the 2025 chart
- #234
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kailee went to 98 girls in 2025, but Kaylee, Caylee and Cailee and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,431, which makes it the 234th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,728 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,123 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 16,401 for Kailee 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 Juana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kailee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Juana climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Juana's path sketches the road Kailee is walking now.
Kailee 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 Kailee is headed
Kailee is easing off slowly — about 24% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Kailee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kailee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai and Lee are two short forms, both with real records.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It belongs to a documented and highly productive naming pattern.
- Neither half has a settled meaning.
- At least five spellings of the sound are in common use.
- It will be respelled by other people constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kailee to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Kailee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kailee
Feminine · #1962 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kailees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Kailee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kailee?
- Kailee is one of 5 recorded spellings. Kaylee is the more common one — 1,205 births in 2025 against 98 for Kailee.
- How popular is the name Kailee in 2025?
- Kailee ranks #1962 among US girl names in 2025, with 98 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kailee?
- About 1 in every 16,401 US girls born in 2025 was named Kailee — 98 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kailee with classmates?
- Kailee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kailee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Romee#1962 · Janiya#1962 · Lucianna#1962 · Stormy#1962 · Asiyah#1962 · Kaori#1962 · Alanni#1962 · Tia#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kailee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kailee and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle