Kalah
Feminine
Kalah is a modern American spelling and also the English form of the name of a city that ran an empire. Its palaces produced some of the most reproduced carvings in the ancient world, and a great many of them are now several thousand miles from where they were made.
How old is the name Kalah?
Kalah first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Kalah alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 800 people named Kalah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kalah most popular?
Kalah peaked in 1991, reaching #2356 nationally. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kalah
Kalah, or Kalhu, was the Assyrian capital for about a hundred and fifty years, on the Tigris in what is now northern Iraq. Its palace walls were lined with carved stone panels showing hunts, sieges and processions, in relief so crisp that the individual scales of armor are visible, and nineteenth-century excavators shipped a great many of them to European museums. The site kept producing: a set of royal tombs found in the nineteen-eighties held gold work of extraordinary quality. Much of what remained above ground was destroyed within the last decade. The carvings in London, Paris and New York are now a larger share of what survives than anybody excavating them intended.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source has been documented for the American name. The Assyrian city is a coincidence of spelling rather than an origin, and it would be dishonest to hand a family a meaning on the strength of it.
Pronouncing Kalah
KAY-luh
Two syllables with the stress in front. KAH-luh is also heard, and the spelling does not decide.
Nicknames for Kalah
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
- 199154 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2356reached in 1991
- Change vs 2009
- 0.0%5 in 2014, from 5
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.
Kalahs among us
people named Kalah are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Kalah sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables: easy to write and easy for a child to learn.
- Kala and Kay are both available as short forms without any work.
- It is soft and clear and carries well across a room.
- Two pronunciations are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- Kayla, Kala and Kaleah are all in the record, so the spelling will be checked back with you.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing to answer with.
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Kalah
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kalahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Kalah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kalah in 2025?
- Kalah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Kalah with classmates?
- Kalah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kalah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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