Kairo
Masculine · “From Cairo”
Kairo is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 11,224 boys against 295 girls since 1880.
Kairo carries the name of one of the world's great cities, the Arabic al-Qāhira, in a spelling shaped by American ears. Two easy syllables, a bright vowel then an open one, and inside it the ready-made short form Kai. It arrived on US records only recently and has been climbing since, so nearly everyone who carries it is still a child.
How old is the name Kairo?
Kairo first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Kairo is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 11,000 people named Kairo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kairo most popular?
Kairo peaked in 2025, reaching #226 nationally. Today it ranks #226, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Kairo appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From al-Qāhira to Kairo
The story of Kairo
Cairo was founded in the tenth century by the Fatimid dynasty and named al-Qāhira; the shortened Arabic form traveled into European languages as Cairo. Americans have used it as a place name at home too — there are towns called Cairo in Illinois and Georgia, both pronounced KAY-ro by the people who live there. As a given name it belongs to the long-running American habit of turning C into K, the same move that produced Kaleb and Kason, and of lifting place names into first-name use. The K spelling also brings the name into the orbit of Kai, already well established on its own.
Meaningscholars disagree
From Cairo — Arabic al-Qāhira, "the vanquisher"
The most direct route is the Egyptian capital: al-Qāhira, "the vanquisher" or "the victorious", a name given to the city in the tenth century. Some parents instead have in mind the Greek kairos, the word for the right or opportune moment, which the spelling with K resembles closely. Both readings are in genuine use, and neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- al-Qāhira
- Cairo
- Kairo
Related forms: Cairo · al-Qāhira (القاهرة) · Kyro
Pronouncing Kairo
KY-roh
Two syllables, first stressed, rhyming with "gyro" as most Americans say it. A KAY-roh pronunciation also exists, following the American towns named Cairo, so it is worth stating your preference once at introductions.
Nicknames for Kairo
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
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 20251,577 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #226reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +6.3%1,577 in 2025, from 1,483
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.
Kairo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cairo in English — spelling variant
- al-Qāhira (القاهرة) in Arabic — transliteration
- Kyro in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, New York, Texas.
Kairos among us
people named Kairo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,083 born in 2025 was named Kairo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kairo
- #226
- Kairo on the 2025 chart
- #141
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kairo went to 1,577 boys in 2025, but Cairo, Kairoh and Khairo are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 2,623, which makes it the 141st most-given boys’ name of the year — 85 places above the chart.
- Kairo1,577
- Cairo965
- Kairoh33
- Khairo31
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 651 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,083 for Kairo 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 Devonte test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kairo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Devonte climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Devonte's path sketches the road Kairo is walking now.
Kairo is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Kairo is headed
Kairo looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 24% 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.
Kairo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kairo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with Kai already built in — a short form that stands on its own as a full given name in several languages.
- Simple vowels and no silent letters; readable at first sight to English, Spanish and Japanese speakers alike.
- Ties to a city whose name is recognized worldwide, so the word is familiar even where the given name is not.
- Two syllables ending in an open vowel, which sits easily beside most one-syllable surnames.
- The C spelling, Cairo, is the one most people know from maps, so expect to correct it in writing fairly often — and to be asked whether it is Kairo or Cairo each time.
- Pronunciation is not fully settled between KY-roh and KAY-roh. Neither is wrong, but you will be the one establishing which it is.
- The K-for-C respelling places the name firmly in a very recent wave, and almost everyone carrying it now is small. That means little company in a classroom, and no older namesakes to point to yet.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kairo to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kairo
Masculine · #226 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kairos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,000 people named Kairo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kairo?
- Kairo is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,577 of the 2,623 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Cairo, Kairoh and Khairo.
- How popular is the name Kairo in 2025?
- Kairo ranks #226 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,577 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kairo?
- About 1 in every 1,083 US boys born in 2025 was named Kairo — 1,577 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kairo with classmates?
- Kairo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kairo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cohen#225 · Callahan#227 · Edward#224 · Grant#228 · Brayden#229 · Oscar#223 · Simon#230 · Griffin#222
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kairo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kairo and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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