Kay
Masculine · “Possibly Latin Gaius”
Kay is given to both — 3,924 boys and 98,621 girls since 1880. See Kay as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Sir Kay is the oldest character in Arthurian legend after Arthur himself. He appears as Cai in the earliest Welsh material, centuries before the French romances, and he is Arthur's foster-brother and steward — brave, sarcastic and frequently unbearable.
How old is the name Kay?
Kay first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Kay alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 1,200 people named Kay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kay most popular?
Kay peaked in 1934, reaching #447 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 7,232 places below that high. See the whole 1934 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gaius to Kay
The story of Kay
Cai appears in the earliest Welsh Arthurian poetry and in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, where he has supernatural attributes — he can go nine days without breathing and generate heat from his hands. French romance turned him into Arthur's seneschal, the household steward, and progressively into a comic figure whose boasting is punctured by better knights. Malory keeps that reading. The character's long life makes him a useful marker of how the legend developed: the further from Wales, the smaller Kay becomes. As an American men's name Kay peaks in 1934, by which point it was also widely female.
Meaningscholars disagree
Possibly Latin Gaius, of unknown further sense
The Welsh Cai is generally derived from the Roman name Gaius, itself of unknown meaning, though the derivation is not secure. As an English given name Kay also serves as a clip of Katherine for women and of names beginning with K for men, and as the letter K spelled out. Which applies to an American bearer varies entirely by family.
How the name formed
- Gaius
- Cai
- Kay
Related forms: Cai · Keu
Pronouncing Kay
kay
One syllable, rhyming with day. Welsh Cai is said the same way; the French Keu is closer to kuh.
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 1934159 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #447reached in 1934
- Change vs 2023
- −23.1%10 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.
Kay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cai in Welsh — related form
- Keu in French — related form
Kays among us
people named Kay are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Kay
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kay
- #7679
- Kay on the 2025 chart
- #85
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kay went to 10 boys in 2025, but Kai, Khai and Cai are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 4,031, which makes it the 85th most-given boys’ name of the year — 7,594 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 424 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 170,808 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 Theron 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: Theron climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Theron'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
Kay beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kay in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and three letters, impossible to mispronounce.
- It carries one of the oldest figures in British legend.
- It works as a standalone name or as a clip.
- In America it reads as a woman's name in most contexts.
- Several unrelated routes produce the same spelling.
- Very short names are sometimes rejected by forms.
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What they receive
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Kay
Masculine · #7679 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 1,200 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 — 3,768 births in 2025 against 10 for Kay.
- How popular is the name Kay in 2025?
- Kay ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kay?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Kay — 10 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.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
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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