Kayci
Feminine · “descendant of Cathasach”
Kayci is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,653 girls against 14 boys since 1880.
One two-syllable sound, no authority to settle it, and the result is eight spellings in the American records: Casey, Kasey, Kacey, Cayce, Casie, Kaci, Kaycee and Kayci. Nothing about the sound is difficult. What is missing is anyone with the standing to say which spelling is right.
How old is the name Kayci?
Kayci first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Kayci alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 1,600 people named Kayci are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kayci most popular?
Kayci peaked in 1990, reaching #1847 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 4,699 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From O Cathasaigh to Kayci
The story of Kayci
English has no academy, no spelling authority and no register of legal names, which means that any name transmitted by ear rather than by document can be written however a family likes. That freedom produces one of the clearest patterns in American naming: the simpler and more common a sound, the more spellings it acquires, because there is nothing to stop the process and no advantage to stopping it. Casey crossed to girls in the 1970s and the variants followed immediately. The K-and-i version, Kayci, is one of the more strongly female-marked of them, and its best year on record is 1990.
Meaningscholars disagree
descendant of Cathasach, from a word meaning vigilant
The Irish surname O Cathasaigh, from cathasach, usually read as vigilant or watchful, is the main source. Competing readings exist, and the American given name has been so thoroughly detached from the surname that most bearers have no connection to it at all. None of the modern spelling variants changes the origin; they change only the appearance.
How the name formed
- O Cathasaigh
- Casey
- Kayci
Related forms: Casey · Kacey · Kaycee
Pronouncing Kayci
KAY-see
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Every one of the eight spellings is identical aloud, which is exactly why there are eight.
Nicknames for Kayci
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 199077 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1847reached in 1990
- Change vs 2024
- −34.6%17 in 2025, from 26
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.
Kayci in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Casey in English — spelling variant
- Kacey in English — spelling variant
- Kaycee in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Maryland, California.
Kaycis among us
people named Kayci are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Kayci
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kayci
- #6546
- Kayci on the 2025 chart
- #925
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kayci went to 17 girls in 2025, but Kaysi and Kaisy are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 35, which makes it the 925th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,621 places above the chart.
- Kayci17
- Kaysi13
- Kaisy5
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 94,545 for Kayci 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 Everlyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kayci's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Everlyn climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Everlyn's path sketches the road Kayci is walking now.
Kayci 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
Kayci beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kayci in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is familiar to everyone and needs no explaining.
- Kay is a complete and long-established short form.
- The K and the final i together mark it clearly as a girl's name.
- Casey is the standard spelling and will be written on almost every form.
- Eight spellings share the sound and split the records between them.
- It reads as a name of the late 1980s and 1990s in American ears.
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What they receive
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Kayci
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaycis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Kayci are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kayci?
- Kayci is the most-used spelling in US records — 17 of the 35 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaysi and Kaisy.
- How popular is the name Kayci in 2025?
- Kayci ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kayci?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Kayci — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kayci with classmates?
- Kayci will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kayci
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kayci? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kayci and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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