Kody
Masculine · Irish roots · “helpful one' or 'son of Óda”
Kody is given to both — 23,762 boys and 879 girls since 1880. See Kody as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kody is the K-spelled cousin of Cody, a surname that came out of Ireland, crossed the Atlantic, and was later handed to sons as a first name. It is two syllables that never trip anyone up: an open first vowel, a bright ending, and nothing in the middle to negotiate. The K at the front is the only thing anyone has to be told twice.
How old is the name Kody?
Kody first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Kody alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 23,000 people named Kody are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kody most popular?
Kody peaked in 1993, reaching #245 nationally. Today it ranks #1069, 824 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Cuidighthigh / Mac Óda (Irish surnames) to Kody
The story of Kody
Cody began as an Irish family name, not a first name, and reached America with Irish emigration in the nineteenth century. It became a given name largely through the fame of the surname itself — the Wild West showman William F. Cody made those five letters familiar across the English-speaking world, and American parents began using it in front of the family name rather than behind it. Kody arrived later, part of a broad twentieth-century American habit of swapping a hard C for a K in names that already existed. That makes it a respelling with a real history behind it: the pronunciation is centuries old, the K is the newer decision.
Meaningscholars disagree
'helpful one' or 'son of Óda', through the Irish surname Cody
Two Irish surnames were both anglicized to Cody. One is Ó Cuidighthigh, from a byname built on the word for helping — read as 'descendant of the helpful one'. The other is Mac Óda, 'son of Óda', a family of Norman descent long settled in Kilkenny. Genealogists have never fully separated the two lines, so both readings stand.
How the name formed
- Ó Cuidighthigh / Mac ÓdaIrish surnames
- Codyanglicized surname
- Codygiven name
- Kody
Related forms: Cody · Codie · Kodi · Ó Cuidighthigh
Pronouncing Kody
KOH-dee
Identical in sound to Cody. Stress falls on the first syllable, and the ending is a clear 'ee'. No regional variation to speak of in American English.
Nicknames for Kody
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
- 1956
- Most boys named
- 19931,169 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #245reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- +2.5%202 in 2025, from 197
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.
Kody in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cody in English — spelling variant
- Codie in English — spelling variant
- Kodi in English — spelling variant
- Ó Cuidighthigh in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kodys among us
people named Kody are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 8,456 born in 2025 was named Kody
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kody
- #1069
- Kody on the 2025 chart
- #254
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kody went to 202 boys in 2025, but Cody, Kodi and Codi and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,385, which makes it the 254th most-given boys’ name of the year — 815 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,233 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 8,456 for Kody 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 Irwin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kody's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Irwin climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Irwin's path sketches the road Kody is walking now.
Kody 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 Kody is headed
Kody 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.
Kody beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kody in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Says itself: anyone who reads it aloud gets it right the first time, in any English-speaking country.
- Short enough that it needs no nickname — it already works as both the formal and the casual version of itself.
- The pronunciation has been in continuous use for well over a century, so it never sounds newly minted even in the K spelling.
- Unambiguously read as a boy's name in American use, which spares a lifetime of small clarifications.
- The default spelling is Cody, and always will be. A Kody should expect to correct forms, coffee cups and email addresses for life — a small, permanent tax on the K.
- K-for-C respellings belong to a recognizable stretch of American naming fashion, and adults may place the name in that era rather than hearing it as new.
- The surname's Wild West fame gives it a faint Western flavor for some listeners. Whether that reads as charm or as costume depends entirely on who is listening.
- A child with this name will rarely meet another, in either spelling — pleasant for most, occasionally lonely for a kid who wants a name on the keychain rack.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kody to the vote.
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What they receive
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Kody
Masculine · Irish roots · #1069 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kodys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 23,000 people named Kody are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kody?
- Kody is one of 5 recorded spellings. Cody is the more common one — 1,076 births in 2025 against 202 for Kody.
- How popular is the name Kody in 2025?
- Kody ranks #1069 among US boy names in 2025, with 202 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kody?
- About 1 in every 8,456 US boys born in 2025 was named Kody — 202 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kody with classmates?
- Kody will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kody
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nazir#1069 · Kellen#1069 · Zaylen#1069 · Billy#1068 · Gary#1073 · Ramiro#1073 · Eider#1064 · Ismail#1064
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kody? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kody and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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