Kaiser
Masculine · “emperor”
Kaiser is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,921 boys against 34 girls since 1880.
Kaiser is the German word for emperor, and it got there by way of one Roman family name: Caesar. Germanic speakers borrowed it so early that they kept the hard K and the old ae-diphthong that Latin later softened, which is why the word still opens with that bright KY sound after two thousand years. It came to America as a German surname long before anyone gave it to a baby.
How old is the name Kaiser?
Kaiser first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Kaiser is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,800 people named Kaiser are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaiser most popular?
Kaiser peaked in 2022, reaching #749 nationally. Today it ranks #835, 86 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Kaiser appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Caesar to Kaiser
The story of Kaiser
Caesar began as a Roman family name, became the standing title of Roman emperors, and was carried north into Germanic speech very early — early enough that the borrowing preserved the original hard C and the ae vowel, giving Old High German keisar and eventually modern German Kaiser. It served as the formal title of Holy Roman Emperors and, in the nineteenth century and the years before the First World War, of the German emperors. Alongside the title, Kaiser became an ordinary German and Austrian surname, and German-speaking immigrants brought it to the United States in large numbers. Its use as a first name for American boys is a much later and much smaller development, part of the broader move of surnames and title-words onto the birth certificate.
Meaning
emperor
From Latin Caesar, the cognomen of Julius Caesar, which his heirs turned into a title. The same root gives Russian tsar.
How the name formed
- Caesar
- keisarOld High German
- keiserMiddle High German
- KaiserGerman
- Kaiser
Related forms: Caesar · Tsar · Keizer · Cesare · César · císař
Pronouncing Kaiser
KY-zer
Rhymes with "wiser." The German pronunciation is essentially the same, so the name survives a border crossing intact. The chief risk is a reader who tries KAY-ser on first sight.
Nicknames for Kaiser
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 2022342 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #749reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −5.7%296 in 2025, from 314
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.
Kaiser in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caesar in Latin — related form
- Tsar in Russian — related form
- Keizer in Dutch — related form
- Cesare in Italian — related form
- César in Spanish — related form
- císař in Czech — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Louisiana.
Kaisers among us
people named Kaiser are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,771 born in 2025 was named Kaiser
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaiser
- #835
- Kaiser on the 2025 chart
- #526
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaiser went to 296 boys in 2025, but Kaizer, Caizer and Kayser are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 462, which makes it the 526th most-given boys’ name of the year — 309 places above the chart.
- Kaiser296
- Kaizer150
- Caizer8
- Kayser8
About 1 boy in 3,697 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 5,771 for Kaiser 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 Kenji test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaiser's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kenji climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kenji's path sketches the road Kaiser is walking now.
Kaiser 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 Kaiser is headed
Kaiser should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Kaiser beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaiser in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling, one pronunciation, and both are already familiar from German words and American brand names — most people read it right the first time.
- Ready-made short form in Kai, which stands on its own as a given name if he ever wants something plainer.
- A documented word-history running from Roman Latin through Old High German to modern German, unusually long for a name only recently given to children.
- Recognizable across German, Dutch and other European languages, where the word itself is still in everyday use.
- Distinctive enough that he is unlikely to share it with a classmate, while never needing to be spelled out twice.
- It is a title meaning "emperor," not a traditional personal name, and some people will hear it as a claim rather than a name. Expect the occasional raised eyebrow or joke at introductions.
- For anyone who knows twentieth-century history, "the Kaiser" means Wilhelm II and the First World War. The association has faded a great deal, but it has not vanished.
- American ears may reach first for Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Aluminum or a kaiser roll — brand and bakery associations rather than historical ones, and mostly harmless.
- The children carrying it are overwhelmingly young, so it currently reads as a new name rather than an inherited one, and there are few adult Kaisers to set the tone.
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What they receive
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Kaiser
Masculine · #835 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaisers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Kaiser are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaiser?
- Kaiser is the most-used spelling in US records — 296 of the 462 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaizer, Caizer and Kayser.
- How popular is the name Kaiser in 2025?
- Kaiser ranks #835 among US boy names in 2025, with 296 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaiser?
- About 1 in every 5,771 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaiser — 296 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaiser with classmates?
- Kaiser will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaiser
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cayson#835 · Dakari#837 · Roger#832 · Alvin#838 · Rayden#832 · Avi#832 · Yadiel#838 · Casen#840
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaiser? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaiser and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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