girl's name
Kaia
KY-a
- Origin Disputed
- Gender Girl
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 25,662
the United States
#193
2025 births
Kaia is a girl's name with several origins: a Scandinavian pet form of Katarina, the Hawaiian for "the sea," and the Greek Gaia, meaning "earth" — so it can mean sea or land depending on the family.
- Kaia is a name of Disputed origin.
- Peaked in 2024, when 1,680 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,043 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1955.
Kaia over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1950s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 20 |
| 1960s | 44 |
| 1970s | 167 |
| 1980s | 211 |
| 1990s | 594 |
| 2000s | 4,033 |
| 2010s | 7,261 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 8,637 |
What Kaia means
Kaia has no single meaning. Scandinavian use makes it a diminutive of Katarina with no independent sense; Hawaiian kai means sea, and the Greek Gaia means earth.
Where Kaia comes from
Kaia is a Norwegian and Danish pet form of Katarina, which carries that name's own unresolved meaning. Separately, the Hawaiian kai means sea or seawater, and ka-ia would read as the sea. A third reading connects it to the Greek Gaia, the earth goddess and personification of the earth itself — so the same four letters can mean sea in one tradition and land in another. Its recent English-language use follows the -aia sound group with Maia, Aria and Amaya rather than any one source.
Kaia in use
Our data shows Kaia rising and it first appears in our records in 1955. It belongs with Amaya, Maya and Anaya among names our records show entering wide use faster than reference works could document, which is why their entries stack unrelated meanings from several languages.
How popular is Kaia?
In 2025, Kaia was given to 1,623 babies in the United States, ranking #193 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kaia is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Kaia is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Kaïa | Kaïa is a rare spelling of Kaia, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 90 times, mostly in France. | 90 |
Names that peaked alongside Kaia
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kaia also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kaia over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Kaia
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Kaia in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Kaia
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kaia — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kaia
What does the name Kaia mean?
It depends on the tradition — a Scandinavian pet form of Katarina, the Hawaiian for sea, or the Greek Gaia, earth.
Is Kaia Hawaiian?
It can be read that way, since kai means sea. But Scandinavian and Greek sources are equally genuine.
Can Kaia mean both sea and earth?
Yes — Hawaiian gives sea and the Greek Gaia gives earth. The same four letters, two unrelated languages.
How popular is the name Kaia?
In 2025, Kaia was given to 1,623 babies in the United States, ranking #193 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Kaia a girl's or a boy's name?
Kaia is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Kaia most popular?
Kaia peaked in 2024, when 1,680 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Kaia?
Kaia is usually shortened to Kai.
Is Kaia a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kaia currently ranks #99 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.