Kale
Masculine · “Hawaiian form of Charles”
Kale is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 7,379 boys against 226 girls since 1880.
Kale is Hawaiian for Charles, and the transformation follows a rule. Hawaiian has eight consonants and no r, s or ch, so every borrowed name is rebuilt from the sounds available: Charles becomes Kale, Mary becomes Malia, John becomes Keoni, Thomas becomes Kimo. Nothing is arbitrary about it.
How old is the name Kale?
Kale first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Kale alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 7,200 people named Kale are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kale most popular?
Kale peaked in 2008, reaching #504 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 6,690 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Kale
The story of Kale
When missionaries reduced Hawaiian to writing in the 1820s they fixed an alphabet of twelve letters, and every English name that entered the language afterwards had to pass through it. The results are systematic enough to be reversible: Keoni is John, Kimo is James, Pika is Peter, Malia is Mary, Lokelani is Rose-of-heaven. These are not nicknames or approximations but the Hawaiian forms of those names, used as ordinary given names in Hawaii today. Kale entered American figures broadly, peaking in 2008, by which point it was serving three unrelated purposes at once: the Hawaiian name, a respelling of Cale, and, for a few families, the word.
Meaning
Hawaiian form of Charles
Hawaiian phonology has the consonants p, k, m, n, w, l, h and the glottal stop, plus five vowels, and no consonant clusters or word-final consonants. Charles cannot survive that: ch becomes k, r becomes l, and a vowel must close the word, giving Kale. Charles itself is Germanic karl, a free man. Separately, kale is an English vegetable name from Old Norse kál, and Kale is also used as a respelling of Cale and Kayle, which are different names again.
How the name formed
- karl
- Charles
- Kale
Related forms: Kale · Charles · Keoni
Pronouncing Kale
KAH-leh
Two syllables in Hawaiian, with both vowels sounded — KAH-leh, not kayl. Mainland Americans usually say it as one syllable, rhyming with pale, which is the pronunciation of the unrelated Cale.
Nicknames for Kale
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 2008544 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #504reached in 2008
- Change vs 2023
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
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.
Kale in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kale in Hawaiian — same name
- Charles in English — related form
- Keoni in Hawaiian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Indiana, Oklahoma, Florida.
Kales among us
people named Kale are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Kale
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kale
- #7194
- Kale on the 2025 chart
- #870
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kale went to 11 boys in 2025, but Cale is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 58, which makes it the 870th most-given boys’ name of the year — 6,324 places above the chart.
- Cale47
- Kale11
About 1 boy in 29,450 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 155,280 for Kale 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 Demario test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kale's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Demario climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Demario's path sketches the road Kale is walking now.
Kale 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
Kale beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kale in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine Hawaiian name with a documented, systematic derivation.
- Four letters, and easy to write in any language.
- It connects to Charles without being Charles.
- Mainland speakers say it as one syllable, which is not the Hawaiian form.
- It is spelled identically to an English vegetable.
- Cale, Kayle and Kale compete and are pronounced differently.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kale to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kale
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kales are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,200 people named Kale are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kale?
- Kale is one of 2 recorded spellings. Cale is the more common one — 47 births in 2025 against 11 for Kale.
- How popular is the name Kale in 2025?
- Kale ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kale?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Kale — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kale with classmates?
- Kale will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kale
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kale? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kale and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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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