boy's name
Kairo
KY-roh
- Origin Arabic
- Gender Boy
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 14,029
the United States
#226
2025 births
Kairo is a boy's name taken from Cairo, the Egyptian capital, respelled with a K. The city's Arabic name, al-Qāhirah, means "the victorious" or "the subduer," and was chosen when the city was founded in the tenth century.
- Kairo is a name of Arabic origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 1,611 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,058 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1995.
Kairo over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1990s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 48 |
| 2000s | 208 |
| 2010s | 2,569 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 8,694 |
What Kairo means
Kairo means the victorious, inherited from the Arabic name of the city. The K spelling is a modern styling choice and changes nothing about the meaning.
Where Kairo comes from
Kairo is a respelling of Cairo, from the Arabic al-Qāhirah, meaning the victorious or the conqueror. The city was founded in 969 by the Fatimid dynasty, and the name is traditionally explained by the planet Mars — al-Qāhir, the subduer — being in the ascendant at the moment of founding. English took the name through Italian and French, arriving at Cairo. As a given name it is recent, part of a wider adoption of place names, and the K spelling follows the same impulse that produced Jaxson from Jackson. United States birth records show Kairo appearing in 1995. Some sources instead connect the name to the Greek kairos, meaning the opportune moment, but that is a resemblance rather than a derivation.
Kairo in use
Cairo was named for Mars, the subduer, said to have been in the ascendant when the city was founded in 969.
How popular is Kairo?
In 2025, Kairo was given to 1,611 babies in the United States, ranking #226 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kairo 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 Kairo is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Kaïro | Kaïro is a rare spelling of Kairo, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Kairo
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kairo also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kairo over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Kairo
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.
Kairo 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 Kairo
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kairo — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kairo
What does the name Kairo mean?
Kairo means "the victorious," from the Arabic al-Qāhirah, the name of Cairo.
Is Kairo the same as Cairo?
Yes. Kairo is a modern respelling of the city name.
Is Kairo related to the Greek kairos?
Some sources suggest it, but the resemblance is coincidental — the city name is Arabic.
How popular is the name Kairo?
In 2025, Kairo was given to 1,611 babies in the United States, ranking #226 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Kairo a girl's or a boy's name?
Kairo is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
When was Kairo most popular?
Kairo peaked in 2025, when 1,611 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Kairo?
Kairo is usually shortened to Kai.
Is Kairo a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kairo currently ranks #226 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.