Kaine
Masculine · “battle”
Kaine is one of the English spellings of an old Ulster surname, Ó Catháin, carried to America by Irish families and later turned around into a first name. It is a single beat in the mouth — one syllable, a long A, and a silent E doing quiet work at the end. The same sound has been written Kane, Cain, Keane and O'Kane for centuries, so the spelling is new while the name behind it is not.
How old is the name Kaine?
Kaine first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Kaine is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,600 people named Kaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaine most popular?
Kaine peaked in 2017, reaching #1010 nationally. Today it ranks #1425, 415 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cathán to Kaine
The story of Kaine
Cathán was a personal name in early Ireland, and his descendants became the Ó Catháin, a family long established in what is now County Derry. English record-keepers wrote the surname down as they heard it: Kane, O'Kane, Keane, Cain, and Kaine among them. Irish emigration carried all of those spellings to America in the nineteenth century, where the surname eventually did what many Irish surnames did and stepped forward into the first-name slot. Kaine is also familiar to Americans as a surname in public life — Tim Kaine, the Virginia senator, spells it this way.
Meaningscholars disagree
battle, through the Irish name Cathán
The main road runs from Irish Ó Catháin, 'descendant of Cathán', a personal name built on cath, 'battle'. But the sound sits at a crossroads: Welsh Cain means 'fair, beautiful', and the Hebrew Qayin of Genesis, usually written Cain in English, is a separate name entirely. Parents who choose Kaine are generally choosing the Irish line, but the other two are real and nearby.
How the name formed
- Cathán
- Ó Catháin
- O'Kane
- Kane
- Kaine
Related forms: Ó Catháin · Kane · Kayne · Cain · Keane · Cahan
Pronouncing Kaine
KAYN
One syllable, rhyming with rain. The final E is silent — the -aine ending here does not sound like 'mine' or 'machine'.
Nicknames for Kaine
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
- 1973
- Most boys named
- 2017200 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1010reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- +2.4%126 in 2025, from 123
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.
Kaine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Catháin in Irish — same name
- Kane in English — spelling variant
- Kayne in English — spelling variant
- Cain in English — spelling variant
- Keane in Irish/English — related form
- Cahan in Irish/English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kaines among us
people named Kaine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,556 born in 2025 was named Kaine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaine
- #1425
- Kaine on the 2025 chart
- #692
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaine went to 126 boys in 2025, but Caine, Kayne and Cayne are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 242, which makes it the 692nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 733 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 7,058 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 13,556 for Kaine 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 Marquel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marquel climbed just as high around 1995, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marquel's path sketches the road Kaine is walking now.
Kaine 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 Kaine is headed
Kaine is easing off slowly — about 15% 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.
Kaine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and instantly sayable in English: nobody hesitates over how to pronounce it, even when they ask how it is spelled.
- Sits on a documented surname line running back to medieval Ulster, with Kane, Keane, Cain and O'Kane as visible cousins.
- Rare enough in classrooms that it stays a person's own name rather than a first-name-plus-initial.
- Pairs cleanly with longer surnames and with most middle names, since it takes up so little room.
- Expect to spell it. Kane is the default in most people's heads, and Cain is close behind, so the -aine ending will be a lifelong small correction on forms and coffee cups.
- The sound is identical to Cain, the brother in Genesis, and some listeners will make that connection regardless of spelling. It has not stopped the name from being used steadily, but it is worth knowing before you decide.
- Its whole run in American use is recent, so it reads as a modern choice rather than a family classic, and almost everyone carrying it right now is young.
- There is very little to shorten. If you like having a nickname in reserve, Kai is essentially the only one on offer.
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What they receive
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Kaine
Masculine · #1425 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Kaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaine?
- Kaine is the most-used spelling in US records — 126 of the 242 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Caine, Kayne and Cayne.
- How popular is the name Kaine in 2025?
- Kaine ranks #1425 among US boy names in 2025, with 126 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaine?
- About 1 in every 13,556 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaine — 126 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaine with classmates?
- Kaine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jessie#1425 · Finneas#1425 · Dev#1425 · Jacoby#1425 · Rush#1425 · Aleksander#1425 · Haze#1425 · Zack#1425
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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