Skip to content
NameBattle
My names

Keilah

Feminine

1976high 2005
#4460 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare31 girls in 2025

Keilah is a walled town in Judah that David defends in the books of Samuel — and then leaves, because he learns its people would hand him over.

How old is the name Keilah?

Keilah first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Keilah alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,600 people named Keilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Keilah most popular?

Keilah peaked in 1997, reaching #2309 nationally. Today it ranks #4460, 2,151 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Keilah

The Keilah episode is one of the sharper political scenes in Samuel: David rescues the town from a Philistine raid, and then asks God whether the townspeople will give him up to Saul if he stays — and is told they will. So he leaves the place he has just saved. It is an unusually cold-eyed piece of narrative. The name appears in American records for girls from the 1990s.

Meaningnot established

Not established

The place name's derivation is not established; readings from a root about fortifying or enclosing circulate without confirmation. It appears in Samuel and Chronicles as a town and once as a personal name.

How the name formed

  1. Qeilah
  2. Keilah

Related forms: Qeilah · Keila

Pronouncing Keilah

KY-lah

Two syllables, first stressed. Some families say KEE-lah.

Nicknames for Keilah

Moderate

KeiThe front clip
LahTakes the ending
KikiA doubled sound-based form used in childhood
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1976–202566330663119762025

US babies named Keilah per year from 1976 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#23091970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1976
Most girls named
200566 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#2309reached in 1997
Change vs 2024
0.0%31 in 2025, from 31
Keilah sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2005, with 66 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Keilah in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Qeilah in Hebrew — same name
  • Keila in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, North Carolina.

Keilahs among us

1,600

people named Keilah are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was named Keilah

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Keilah

#4460
Keilah on the 2025 chart
#518
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Keilah went to 31 girls in 2025, but Keyla and Keila are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 498, which makes it the 518th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,942 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 3,227 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 51,847 for Keilah 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

III

Is it right for you

The Mario test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keilah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mario climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mario's path sketches the road Keilah is walking now.

40%chance Keilah will feel dated by 2040
Keilah, aligned on its peakMario· peak 1973not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+30 yrsMario · #13150Keilah today
Keilah today is about where Mario stood in 2001 — 28 years past a #2309-sized peak. Within 15 years, Mario had drifted out of the mainstream charts.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Keilah 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 Keilah is headed

19762030

US babies named Keilah per year, 1976 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Keilah looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.

Rising+19% by 2030projected around #4,017 in 2030

Low 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.

Keilah beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Keilah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Keilahthis name31#4460Jayce31#4460Nikita31#4460Magali31#4460Emari31#4460

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • A documented biblical place with a genuinely striking episode behind it.
  • Six letters and two syllables, quick to write.
  • Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
What to consider
  • The first vowel is unsettled between KY and KEE.
  • Keilah, Keila and Kayla are all close and get confused.
  • The meaning is not established.

Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Keilah to the vote.

Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.

Start a family voteSwipe together

Only the people you invite can see your list.

Already decided on Keilah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.

Or just send this page to someone:

WhatsAppPinterestFacebook

What they receive

Someone added a name to your list

Keilah

Feminine · #4460 in the U.S.

♥ Love itNot for meLet’s talk about it
Add a note — what do you like about it?
Your shared list is empty. Keilah would be the first name on it.

Frequently asked

How many Keilahs 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 Keilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Keilah?
Keilah is one of 3 recorded spellings. Keyla is the more common one — 331 births in 2025 against 31 for Keilah.
How popular is the name Keilah in 2025?
Keilah ranks #4460 among US girl names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Keilah?
About 1 in every 51,847 US girls born in 2025 was named Keilah — 31 in all.
Will my child share the name Keilah with classmates?
Keilah will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Keilah

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Jayce#4460 · Nikita#4460 · Magali#4460 · Emari#4460 · Rilyn#4460 · Danyla#4460 · Lynleigh#4460 · Mandy#4460

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keilah? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Keilah and another name?

See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.

Compare side by side

In a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.

Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.

Cast your vote

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

No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle