Kay
Feminine
Kay is given to both — 98,621 girls and 3,924 boys since 1880. See Kay as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Kay is a letter that became a name. Most bearers were given it as the spoken form of an initial or as a short form of Katherine, which makes it one of the few names on the chart whose written origin is a single character of the alphabet.
How old is the name Kay?
Kay first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Kay alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 63,500 people named Kay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kay most popular?
Kay peaked in 1941, reaching #70 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 3,833 places below that high. See the whole 1941 chart.
Kay appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Katherine to Kay
The story of Kay
Initial-names were a real American habit: a child known by a middle initial, or by the first letter of a long family name, and the sound written down as it was said. Katherine supplied the same sound by clipping, and the two routes are impossible to separate in the records. There is a third, older Kay entirely — Sir Kay, King Arthur's foster-brother and seneschal in the medieval romances, a masculine name from Welsh. The American women's name peaked in the early 1940s.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Kay carries no meaning of its own. Through Katherine it points to a name whose own origin is unrecovered — the received reading 'pure' is a later Christian reinterpretation of Aikaterine, not an etymology of it. There is also an unrelated masculine Kay in Arthurian legend, from the Welsh Cai, whose meaning is likewise not settled.
How the name formed
- Katherine
- K
- Kay
Related forms: Kaye · Cai · Kai
Pronouncing Kay
KAY
One syllable, rhyming with 'day'. Kay and Kaye are said identically.
Nicknames for Kay
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 19423,622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #70reached in 1941
- Change vs 2022
- −21.3%37 in 2025, from 47
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.
Kay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaye in English — spelling variant
- Cai in Welsh — related form
- Kai in Danish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Illinois.
Kays among us
people named Kay are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Kay
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kay
- #3903
- Kay on the 2025 chart
- #660
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kay went to 37 girls in 2025, but Kai, Khai and Cai are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 315, which makes it the 660th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,243 places above the chart.
- Kai234
- Kay37
- Khai32
- Cai12
About 1 girl in 5,102 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,440 for Kay 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 Leona test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kay's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leona climbed just as high around 1904, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leona's path sketches the road Kay is walking now.
Kay 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 Kay is headed
Kay 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.
Kay beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kay in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, three letters, and never misheard in any accent.
- It works beautifully as a middle name, which is where a great many bearers carry it.
- Katherine can stand behind it whenever a formal version is wanted.
- It has no meaning of its own to offer.
- Kay and Kaye are both established spellings.
- In Arthurian material the same name is masculine, which occasionally causes a double take.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kay to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kay
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 63,500 people named Kay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kay?
- Kay is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kai is the more common one — 234 births in 2025 against 37 for Kay.
- How popular is the name Kay in 2025?
- Kay ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kay?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Kay — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kay with classmates?
- Kay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kay
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sonja#3903 · Truth#3903 · Gisela#3903 · Kaylene#3903 · Bronwyn#3903 · Cristal#3903 · Simi#3903 · Georgianna#3903
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kay? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kay and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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