Kelly

What Kelly means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Kelly yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 18,234 babies; 319 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Kelly?

US: Falling: down from #480 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1114 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1977, when 18,234 girls got the name (#10 that year). First in the US records in 1907.

How common

• About 1 in 5,038 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 18,092 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MD (0.55 per 1,000 girls), CT (0.52 per 1,000 girls), MA (0.5 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Kelly is #851 in the US and #2006 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 79.2% of US babies named Kelly were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Keyla331 US · 5 E&W
• Keily194 US
• Keeley135 US · 7 E&W
• Keila136 US
• Keyli72 US
• Keely63 US
• Kiley61 US
• Kalli56 US · 5 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Kelley
• Kelli
• Kellie

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Kelly

Girls

• Tiffany#878Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1988, with 18,364 babies; 304 in 2025
• Ashley#164“ash tree + wood, clearing”^*
• Kelsey#814Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #343 in 2015, #814 in 2025
• Shelby#649Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1991, with 10,220 babies; 444 in 2025
• Kimberly#302Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #108 in 2015, #302 in 2025
• Holly#416“wood, clearing, meadow”^*

For a brother

• Corey#778possibly “troop, host, company”^*
• Cody#318Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1992, with 19,876 babies; 1,076 in 2025
• Curtis#984“polite, courteous”^*
• Mitchell#952Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1994, with 5,370 babies; 245 in 2025
• Taylor#683From the word “tailor”^*
• Keith#800“wood”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Kelly’s. Rank is US 2025.