Meaning not yet researched.
Kai: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 3,768 in 2025. Its best rank was #59 in 2022.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #59 in 2022; #93 in 2025. About 94% of babies named Kai in 2025 were boys.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#93 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 2022, at #59.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Kai: US boys and girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 3,768 boys in 2025. Peak: #59 in 2022 · most boys in one year: 5,374 (2022).
In 2025, 3,768 US boys were named Kai, making it the 93rd most common boys’ name of the year, down 17 places from #76 in 2024. That is 533 fewer than the 4,301 boys named Kai in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #59, reached in 2022. That year also had the most boys given the name: 5,374. For comparison, it was #145 in 2015 and #2,671 in 1950.
In 2025, 234 US girls were named Kai, making it the 1,054th most common girls’ name of the year, up 78 places from #1,132 in 2024. That is 20 more than the 214 girls named Kai in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #770, reached in 2021. That year also had the most girls given the name: 371. For comparison, it was #888 in 2015 and unranked in 1950.
Social Security card records list Kai in 80 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1926 with 6 babies. In all, 78,710 US babies have been given the name, 11% of them girls and 89% boys. Its busiest decade was the 2010s, with 29,004 babies named Kai.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 40,187 US boys were named Kai; the busiest of those years was 2022, with 5,374. In 2025 that was about 1 in 453 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Kai ranked highest in Hawaii in 2025, at #13 for boys there. It was in the top 100 in 21 states (counting DC). Related spellings in the SSA files include Kay (102,545 babies since 1880), Kaia (20,967 babies since 1880), Kaye (13,707 babies since 1880) and Kaya (10,976 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Caio, Kaj and Kaiea are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in German. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Caio (722), Kaj (515), Kaiea (70), Kauai (43), Kahia (11).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Kai in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 3 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 30 | #13 | #28 |
| California | 601 | #58 | #119 |
| Florida | 328 | #58 | #91 |
| Utah | 68 | #65 | #96 |
| New Mexico | 26 | #68 | #182 |
| Washington | 105 | #68 | #75 |
| Nevada | 43 | #69 | #104 |
| Louisiana | 59 | #77 | #142 |
| New York | 222 | #78 | #161 |
| Arizona | 98 | #80 | #116 |
| Colorado | 82 | #80 | #128 |
| Rhode Island | 13 | #83 | — |
| Connecticut | 40 | #88 | #125 |
| Oregon | 42 | #89 | #104 |
| Alaska | 9 | #91 | #73 |
| West Virginia | 21 | #91 | #349 |
| Oklahoma | 46 | #94 | #119 |
| Virginia | 93 | #97 | #126 |
| Massachusetts | 72 | #97 | #146 |
| New Jersey | 101 | #98 | #152 |
| Georgia | 116 | #99 | #165 |
| Pennsylvania | 123 | #102 | #166 |
| Maryland | 55 | #102 | #109 |
| Texas | 366 | #108 | #196 |
| Maine | 13 | #110 | #204 |
| Delaware | 10 | #110 | #148 |
| North Carolina | 112 | #111 | #151 |
| Tennessee | 83 | #112 | #232 |
| North Dakota | 11 | #114 | #270 |
| Illinois | 99 | #119 | #182 |
| Michigan | 80 | #126 | #256 |
| Alabama | 43 | #128 | #206 |
| Iowa | 32 | #130 | #170 |
| Ohio | 105 | #130 | #176 |
| South Carolina | 43 | #130 | #181 |
| Wisconsin | 47 | #132 | #183 |
| District of Columbia | 7 | #132 | #64 |
| Kentucky | 43 | #132 | #239 |
| Minnesota | 49 | #134 | #157 |
| South Dakota | 10 | #136 | #159 |
| Missouri | 52 | #139 | #178 |
| Kansas | 27 | #141 | #172 |
| Arkansas | 25 | #147 | #220 |
| Idaho | 18 | #157 | #159 |
| Nebraska | 18 | #161 | #257 |
| Montana | 8 | #163 | #171 |
| Indiana | 49 | #175 | #215 |
| Mississippi | 14 | #227 | #276 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 234 | #1,054 | 3,768 | #93 |
| 2024 | 214 | #1,132 | 4,301 | #76 |
| 2023 | 282 | #940 | 4,976 | #61 |
| 2022 | 358 | #791 | 5,374 | #59 |
| 2021 | 371 | #770 | 4,641 | #70 |
| 2020 | 344 | #793 | 3,867 | #93 |
| 2019 | 338 | #809 | 3,744 | #100 |
| 2018 | 318 | #854 | 3,463 | #112 |
| 2017 | 338 | #809 | 3,158 | #126 |
| 2016 | 320 | #879 | 2,895 | #145 |
| 2015 | 311 | #888 | 2,852 | #145 |
| 2014 | 270 | #989 | 2,411 | #177 |
| 2013 | 282 | #906 | 1,983 | #199 |
| 2012 | 281 | #919 | 1,938 | #197 |
| 2011 | 294 | #889 | 1,790 | #202 |
| 2010 | 268 | #955 | 1,750 | #205 |
| 2009 | 235 | #1,086 | 1,759 | #213 |
| 2008 | 234 | #1,105 | 1,609 | #229 |
| 2007 | 210 | #1,200 | 1,399 | #252 |
| 2006 | 180 | #1,301 | 1,451 | #238 |
| 2005 | 185 | #1,232 | 1,413 | #239 |
| 2004 | 164 | #1,305 | 1,324 | #249 |
| 2003 | 148 | #1,367 | 1,217 | #264 |
| 2002 | 158 | #1,255 | 1,108 | #276 |
| 2001 | 128 | #1,471 | 718 | #370 |
| 2000 | 131 | #1,416 | 622 | #403 |
| 1999 | 144 | #1,280 | 465 | #478 |
| 1998 | 126 | #1,369 | 363 | #548 |
| 1997 | 128 | #1,349 | 322 | #576 |
| 1996 | 87 | #1,726 | 297 | #598 |
| 1995 | 81 | #1,778 | 357 | #535 |
| 1994 | 88 | #1,694 | 216 | #711 |
| 1993 | 79 | #1,837 | 182 | #784 |
| 1992 | 68 | #2,018 | 159 | #837 |
| 1991 | 53 | #2,402 | 155 | #831 |
| 1990 | 51 | #2,415 | 124 | #928 |
| 1989 | 38 | #2,897 | 140 | #850 |
| 1988 | 43 | #2,504 | 93 | #1,017 |
| 1987 | 34 | #2,876 | 105 | #925 |
| 1986 | 29 | #3,160 | 96 | #935 |
| 1985 | 33 | #2,827 | 99 | #915 |
| 1984 | 49 | #2,063 | 85 | #965 |
| 1983 | 37 | #2,490 | 75 | #1,026 |
| 1982 | 40 | #2,423 | 94 | #925 |
| 1981 | 46 | #2,212 | 88 | #963 |
| 1980 | 64 | #1,739 | 83 | #994 |
| 1979 | 56 | #1,887 | 87 | #950 |
| 1978 | 67 | #1,606 | 74 | #1,009 |
| 1977 | 45 | #2,103 | 66 | #1,065 |
| 1976 | 42 | #2,077 | 54 | #1,172 |
| 1975 | 41 | #2,111 | 58 | #1,109 |
| 1974 | 43 | #1,975 | 50 | #1,174 |
| 1973 | 44 | #1,897 | 53 | #1,132 |
| 1972 | 46 | #1,842 | 52 | #1,133 |
| 1971 | 24 | #2,902 | 40 | #1,340 |
| 1970 | 21 | #3,153 | 58 | #1,074 |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,998 | 46 | #1,158 |
| 1968 | 13 | #3,880 | 47 | #1,094 |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,550 | 40 | #1,190 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,314 | 36 | #1,271 |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,324 | 33 | #1,347 |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,348 | 32 | #1,397 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,060 | 35 | #1,333 |
| 1962 | 14 | #3,506 | 29 | #1,464 |
| 1961 | 9 | #4,695 | 23 | #1,717 |
| 1960 | 7 | #5,411 | 20 | #1,842 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,284 | 26 | #1,570 |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,335 | 20 | #1,809 |
| 1957 | 12 | #3,569 | 16 | #2,056 |
| 1956 | — | — | 12 | #2,435 |
| 1955 | — | — | 22 | #1,662 |
| 1954 | — | — | 14 | #2,162 |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,080 | 10 | #2,621 |
| 1952 | — | — | 5 | #4,001 |
| 1951 | — | — | 14 | #2,099 |
| 1950 | — | — | 9 | #2,671 |
| 1949 | — | — | 5 | #3,971 |
| 1944 | — | — | 5 | #3,679 |
| 1932 | — | — | 6 | #3,571 |
| 1926 | — | — | 6 | #3,959 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).