Kelsey

What Kelsey means

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

Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #343 in 2015, #814 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Kelsey?

US: Falling: down from #343 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #595 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1992, when 11,713 girls got the name (#23 that year). First in the US records in 1942.

How common

• About 1 in 4,798 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 10,131 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 (0.6 per 1,000 girls), TN (0.53 per 1,000 girls), CT (0.52 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Kelsey is #814 in the US and #1271 in England & Wales (2025).

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 96.0% of US babies named Kelsey 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

• Kelsi37 US · 3 E&W
• Kelsy16 US
• Kelise7 US
• Kelcee7 US
• Kelsei7 US
• Kelcy5 US

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

If you like Kelsey

Girls

• Tiffany#878Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1988, with 18,364 babies; 304 in 2025
• Kelly#851Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 18,234 babies; 319 in 2025
• Shelby#649Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1991, with 10,220 babies; 444 in 2025
• Ashley#164“ash tree + wood, clearing”^*
• 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”^*
• Taylor#683From the word “tailor”^*
• Cody#318Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1992, with 19,876 babies; 1,076 in 2025
• Keith#800“wood”^*
• Curtis#984“polite, courteous”^*
• Travis#434“to cross over”^*

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 Kelsey’s. Rank is US 2025.