Kaleia
Feminine
Kaleia joins a Ka- front to the -leia ending, and the Hawaiian lei — a garland — sits close enough to be claimed for it.
How old is the name Kaleia?
Kaleia first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Kaleia is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,100 people named Kaleia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaleia most popular?
Kaleia peaked in 2023, reaching #1965 nationally. Today it ranks #2002, 37 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Kaleia appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kaleia
Our story of Kaleia is a story of a sound with a Hawaiian neighbor. Lei is the garland given in greeting, and ka is the Hawaiian definite article, so ka lei would be 'the garland' — a reading families reach for. American naming meanwhile had -eia and -aya endings in wide circulation by the 2000s. Kaleia appears in the registers in that decade. The Hawaiian words are real; the compound is not documented in the language.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
No settled etymology. It may reflect the Hawaiian ka lei, 'the garland', or the Greek kaleo, 'to call'. It may be a modern American coinage on the -eia ending, alongside Aleia and Maleia. None is documented for this spelling.
Pronouncing Kaleia
kuh-LAY-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hawaiian Kalei is kah-LAY with two.
Nicknames for Kaleia
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 2023100 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1965reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −2.1%95 in 2025, from 97
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.
Kaleia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kalei in Hawaiian — related form
- Kaleya in English — spelling variant
- Maleia in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kaleias among us
people named Kaleia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 16,919 born in 2025 was named Kaleia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaleia
- #2002
- Kaleia on the 2025 chart
- #760
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaleia went to 95 girls in 2025, but Kaleyah, Kaleiah and Kaleya and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 12 spellings went to 200, which makes it the 760th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,242 places above the chart.
- Kaleia95
- Kaleyah18
- Kaleiah15
- Kaleya15
- Kaleiya11
- Caleia9
- Caleyah9
- Caleya6
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 8,036 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 16,919 for Kaleia 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 Shalisa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaleia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shalisa climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shalisa's path sketches the road Kaleia is walking now.
Kaleia 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 Kaleia is headed
Kaleia looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 27% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Kaleia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaleia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Hawaiian garland reading is concrete and attractive where it holds.
- Kalei and Leia are two short forms, both with real use.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- The compound is not documented in Hawaiian.
- Kalea and Kaleia are close enough to cause confusion.
- It will need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Kaleia
Feminine · #2002 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaleias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Kaleia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaleia?
- Kaleia is the most-used spelling in US records — 95 of the 200 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaleyah, Kaleiah, Kaleya, Kaleiya, Caleia, Caleyah and Caleya.
- How popular is the name Kaleia in 2025?
- Kaleia ranks #2002 among US girl names in 2025, with 95 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaleia?
- About 1 in every 16,919 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaleia — 95 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaleia with classmates?
- Kaleia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaleia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Tiara#2002 · Amberly#2002 · Audra#2002 · Yoselin#2002 · Fatoumata#2002 · Everlyn#2002 · Norma#2002 · Liara#2002
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaleia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaleia 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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