Kayson
Masculine
Kayson is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 15,201 boys against 286 girls since 1880.
Kayson is an American-made name, built from parts English speakers already know: the long-A opening of Kai and Kayden, the -son ending that Mason, Carson and Jason wear. It has been on the US charts for four decades without ever spiking or vanishing, and it is at its strongest right now. Two syllables, first one stressed, and almost nobody has to ask how to say it twice.
How old is the name Kayson?
Kayson first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Kayson is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 15,000 people named Kayson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kayson most popular?
Kayson peaked in 2025, reaching #264 nationally. Today it ranks #264, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Kayson appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kayson
Some names arrive with a paper trail; this one arrived with a sound. Kayson is made of pieces that were already loved in American English — the bright Kay- that opens Kayden and Kaleb, the -son close that carries Mason, Carson and Jason — and someone put them together and it held. It took root first and hardest in the South, in Texas, Georgia and Florida, the same country that gave the -son ending its long run. It has stayed on the record for four decades and never had to be explained to anyone: a name that works entirely by ear.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No etymology has been established for Kayson, because it was assembled in English rather than inherited from an older language. What is documented is its shape: it sits among Kason, Cason, Kaysen and Jayson, and shares the -son ending common to Mason, Carson and Grayson. Jason, which it echoes, comes from Greek Iason — but Kayson is not a documented descendant of it, only a neighbor in sound.
Pronouncing Kayson
KAY-sun
Rhymes with Mason. Stress on the first syllable; the -ay- spelling makes the long A explicit, so the reading is rarely in doubt.
Nicknames for Kayson
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
- 1982
- Most boys named
- 20251,305 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #264reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +13.1%1,305 in 2025, from 1,154
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.
Kayson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kason in English — spelling variant
- Cason in English — spelling variant
- Kaysen in English — spelling variant
- Jayson in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Kaysons among us
people named Kayson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,309 born in 2025 was named Kayson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kayson
- #264
- Kayson on the 2025 chart
- #172
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kayson went to 1,305 boys in 2025, but Kaison, Cayson and Caison are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 2,229, which makes it the 172nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 92 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 766 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,309 for Kayson 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 Desmond test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kayson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Desmond climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Desmond's path sketches the road Kayson is walking now.
Kayson 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 Kayson is headed
Kayson should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Kayson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kayson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads correctly on first sight for English speakers — the -ay- spells the long A out, so the pronunciation almost never needs correcting.
- Sits in a pattern Americans already know from Mason, Carson and Jason, so it sounds familiar without being duplicated.
- Rare enough in practice that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Four decades of continuous presence on US records rather than a single season's spike.
- Two syllables, six letters, easy to say aloud and easy to write early.
- The spelling competition is real: Kason, Cason, Kaysen and Jayson all exist, so "K or C? -son or -sen?" will be a lifelong question at the pharmacy counter and on forms.
- There is no documented meaning to offer relatives who ask. If a name's etymology matters to you, this one cannot supply one — its history is a sound, not a word.
- The name's wave is very recent, so it reads clearly as belonging to today's children rather than to any earlier generation.
- It is strongest in Texas, Georgia and Florida; elsewhere it will be understood immediately but heard less often.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kayson
Masculine · #264 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaysons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,000 people named Kayson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kayson?
- Kayson is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,305 of the 2,229 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaison, Cayson and Caison.
- How popular is the name Kayson in 2025?
- Kayson ranks #264 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,305 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kayson?
- About 1 in every 1,309 US boys born in 2025 was named Kayson — 1,305 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kayson with classmates?
- Kayson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kayson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bodhi#265 · Ismael#263 · Bowen#266 · Paul#262 · Brandon#261 · Saint#267 · Omar#260 · Cyrus#268
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kayson? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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