Kellin
Masculine · “slender”
Kellin is given to both — 1,185 boys and 94 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kellin sits on an Irish word for slender — the same one behind Keely, Kyle and Caolan — though whether this particular spelling descends from it or was assembled beside it is not something anyone has written down.
How old is the name Kellin?
Kellin first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Kellin is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Kellin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kellin most popular?
Kellin peaked in 2014, reaching #1473 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 1,360 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From caol to Kellin
The story of Kellin
Irish personal names and surnames were anglicized by ear across several centuries, and the result is a cluster of English spellings — Kellan, Kellen, Keelan, Kealan, Kellin — that different families arrived at independently from more than one Irish source. American use has treated them as variants of one another, which is not quite true. Kellin belongs to that cluster and to the recent taste for two-syllable boys' names ending in a soft -en or -in, a shape that Aiden and Kellen made ordinary.
Meaningscholars disagree
slender — if the Irish reading holds
Irish caol means slender or narrow, and it gives Caolan, a diminutive, which anglicizes as Kealan, Keelan and Kellan. That reading is documented for those forms. Kellin is close to them and may descend from them; it is also close to Kellen and to the surname Kelly, from Irish ceallach, whose own reading is disputed. Several genuine roads run past this name and none has been shown to be the one it took.
How the name formed
- caol
- Caolán
- Kellan
- Kellin
Related forms: Caolán · Kellen · Kellan
Pronouncing Kellin
KEL-in
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. There is no ambiguity in the sound; the only question this name raises is how it is spelled.
Nicknames for Kellin
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
- 2014110 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1473reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- +4.8%44 in 2025, from 42
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.
Kellin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caolán in Irish — related form
- Kellen in English — spelling variant
- Kellan in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida.
Kellins among us
people named Kellin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Kellin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kellin
- #2833
- Kellin on the 2025 chart
- #864
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kellin went to 44 boys in 2025, but Keelin, Kelyn and Kellyn are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 64, which makes it the 864th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,969 places above the chart.
- Kellin44
- Keelin8
- Kelyn7
- Kellyn5
About 1 boy in 26,689 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 38,820 for Kellin 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 Joby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kellin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joby climbed just as high around 1972, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joby's path sketches the road Kellin is walking now.
Kellin 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 Kellin is headed
Kellin 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.
Kellin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kellin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two easy syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- Kell is a natural short form and an unusual one.
- Genuine Irish roots in the cluster it belongs to, even where its own descent is unproven.
- Kellin, Kellen, Kellan and Keelan are all in use and none of them is standard.
- Its Irish descent is likely rather than recorded, so a firm etymology overstates it.
- It sits very close to Kelly, which is read as a girls' name in most of the United States.
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What they receive
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Kellin
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kellins 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 Kellin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kellin?
- Kellin is the most-used spelling in US records — 44 of the 64 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Keelin, Kelyn and Kellyn.
- How popular is the name Kellin in 2025?
- Kellin ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kellin?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Kellin — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kellin with classmates?
- Kellin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kellin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bayron#2833 · Odysseus#2833 · Mahlon#2833 · Ward#2833 · Jarvis#2833 · Abriel#2833 · Alain#2833 · Josef#2833
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kellin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kellin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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