Kaileen
Feminine
Kaileen joins Kai to a -leen ending, and it sits close to Kathleen — the Irish Caitlín, which is Catherine by a long road.
How old is the name Kaileen?
Kaileen first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Kaileen alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 900 people named Kaileen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaileen most popular?
Kaileen peaked in 2022, reaching #2253 nationally. Today it ranks #4265, 2,012 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kaileen
Ours, offered as ours. Kathleen's road is long and well documented: Greek Aikaterine, of unknown origin, became Latin Katharina, French Cateline, Irish Caitlín, and then English Kathleen — five languages, and the meaning was invented in the middle when medieval writers connected it to a Greek word for pure. Kaileen sits beside that with a modern Kai in front. The whole chain is real and the meaning at the far end is not.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Kathleen descends from Irish Caitlín, from French Cateline, from Katherine, whose own Greek origin is genuinely unknown. Kai is documented separately in several languages. Which the modern Kaileen draws on is not recorded.
Pronouncing Kaileen
kay-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress on the second. Some families say KAY-leen.
Nicknames for Kaileen
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
- 202283 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2253reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- +26.9%33 in 2025, from 26
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.
Kaileen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caitlín in Irish — related form
- Kathleen in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Arizona.
Kaileens among us
people named Kaileen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 48,705 born in 2025 was named Kaileen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaileen
- #4265
- Kaileen on the 2025 chart
- #790
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaileen went to 33 girls in 2025, but Kayleen, Kaylen and Caylen are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 170, which makes it the 790th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,475 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 9,455 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 48,705 for Kaileen 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 Jaynie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaileen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaynie climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaynie's path sketches the road Kaileen is walking now.
Kaileen 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 Kaileen is headed
Kaileen looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 39% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Kaileen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaileen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai is a complete short form with real lives in several languages.
- Read correctly on sight by most English speakers.
- Seven letters and two syllables, manageable to write.
- Kaileen, Kailyn and Kaylin are all in use and none is dominant.
- The stress is unsettled between the two syllables.
- There is no documented meaning for the compound.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Kaileen
Feminine · #4265 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaileens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Kaileen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaileen?
- Kaileen is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kayleen is the more common one — 70 births in 2025 against 33 for Kaileen.
- How popular is the name Kaileen in 2025?
- Kaileen ranks #4265 among US girl names in 2025, with 33 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaileen?
- About 1 in every 48,705 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaileen — 33 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaileen with classmates?
- Kaileen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaileen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hyacinth#4265 · Halina#4265 · Michal#4265 · Sadia#4265 · Zahava#4265 · Maiah#4265 · Daysi#4265 · Corrie#4265
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaileen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaileen and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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