Kailo
Masculine · “sea”
Kailo is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 583 boys against 17 girls since 1880.
Kailo joins the Hawaiian kai — the sea — to a -lo ending, and kai is among the most portable words any language has lent to naming.
How old is the name Kailo?
Kailo first appears in US birth records in 2010 — 15 years ago. The typical Kailo is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Kailo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kailo most popular?
Kailo peaked in 2022, reaching #1760 nationally. Today it ranks #1942, 182 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From kai to Kailo
Our story of Kailo
Our story of Kailo is a story of a syllable that traveled everywhere. Kai means the sea in Hawaiian, forgiveness in Frisian, food in Māori, and several things in Japanese depending on the character — and American naming took it up in the 1990s without needing to choose. Kailo extends it with a -lo ending that means nothing at all. It appears in the registers in the 2010s. The front half is real in half a dozen languages; the compound is American.
Meaningscholars disagree
sea
The Kai element is genuine Hawaiian for 'sea', and is also a Japanese, Frisian and Māori word in its own right. The -lo ending is a modern American addition. Whether Kailo descends from Kai or is a free coinage is not documented, and honest sources say so.
How the name formed
- kai
- Kailo
Related forms: Kai · Kaelo · Kylo
Pronouncing Kailo
KY-loh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kailo and Kylo are said identically.
Nicknames for Kailo
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
- 2010
- Most boys named
- 202294 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1760reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- +23.4%79 in 2025, from 64
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.
Kailo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kai in Hawaiian — related form
- Kaelo in English — spelling variant
- Kylo in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Kailos among us
people named Kailo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 21,621 born in 2025 was named Kailo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kailo
- #1942
- Kailo on the 2025 chart
- #806
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kailo went to 79 boys in 2025, but Kailoh, Kaylo and Cailo and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 122, which makes it the 806th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,136 places above the chart.
- Kailo79
- Kailoh17
- Kaylo14
- Cailo7
- Khailo5
About 1 boy in 14,001 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 21,621 for Kailo 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 Ky test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kailo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ky climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ky's path sketches the road Kailo is walking now.
Kailo 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 Kailo is headed
Kailo looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 30% 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.
Kailo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kailo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai is available as a short form that is a real word in several languages.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The sea reading is concrete where the Hawaiian route holds.
- The compound is a modern formation rather than an inherited name.
- Kylo carries a strong film association and is a near-homophone.
- It will need spelling out every time.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kailo to the vote.
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What they receive
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Kailo
Masculine · #1942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kailos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Kailo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kailo?
- Kailo is the most-used spelling in US records — 79 of the 122 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kailoh, Kaylo, Cailo and Khailo.
- How popular is the name Kailo in 2025?
- Kailo ranks #1942 among US boy names in 2025, with 79 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kailo?
- About 1 in every 21,621 US boys born in 2025 was named Kailo — 79 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kailo with classmates?
- Kailo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kailo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Justus#1942 · Whit#1942 · Jasir#1942 · Journey#1942 · Maverik#1942 · Shaun#1942 · Shulem#1942 · Bowden#1942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kailo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kailo and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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