girl's name
Kayla
KAY-luh
- Origin uncertain
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 383,827
the United States
#365
2025 births
Kayla is a girl's name with no established etymology, an American coinage of the 1950s that a soap opera turned into a top-name. It ranks 132nd in Ireland and 365th in the United States.
- Kayla is a name of uncertain origin.
- Peaked in 1991, when 18,580 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,956 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1933.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Kayla over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1930s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 35 |
| 1940s | 161 |
| 1950s | 700 |
| 1960s | 1,488 |
| 1970s | 1,942 |
| 1980s | 55,445 |
| 1990s | 156,123 |
| 2000s | 94,516 |
| 2010s | 30,319 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 6,415 |
What Kayla means
Kayla has no demonstrable meaning. Reference sites offer laurel, pure, and the Hebrew for crown, and none of them holds — the name looks to have been built from the sound of Kay and the -la ending.
Where Kayla comes from
Kayla is a twentieth-century American formation with no earlier history. The etymologies attached to it are borrowed from names it resembles: pure comes from Katherine by way of Caitlin, laurel from Kayley, and a Yiddish Kayle, from the Hebrew for crown, is genuinely attested but has no demonstrated connection to the modern name. What is documented is what made it popular: the character Kayla Brady joined the American soap opera Days of Our Lives in 1982, and the name went from outside the top 500 to the top 20 within a decade. It is frequently offered as an anglicization of the Irish Cadhla, which is misleading twice over — Cadhla is said KY-luh and is a genuinely medieval Irish name, and the two have no connection.
Kayla in use
Kayla ranks 132nd in Ireland with 36 births in 2025 and 365th in the United States with 838 births, and it appears in every market we hold — 172nd in Scotland, 386th in England and Wales, 165th in France. It is falling from a peak in 1991. Our records carry it from 1933, but the volume is entirely post-1982, which is the soap opera rather than the name.
How popular is Kayla?
In 2025, Kayla was given to 838 babies in the United States, ranking #365 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kayla 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 Kayla is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Kaÿla | Kaÿla is a variant spelling of Kayla, recorded in France. | 10 |
Names that peaked alongside Kayla
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kayla also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kayla over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Kayla 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.
- Dutch
- Kaylee
Sibling names for Kayla
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kayla — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kayla
What does the name Kayla mean?
There is no demonstrable meaning. The glosses offered are borrowed from names it resembles.
Is Kayla an Irish name?
No. It is often given as an anglicization of Cadhla, which is a genuinely medieval Irish name said KY-luh and unconnected to it.
Why did Kayla become popular?
A character called Kayla Brady joined Days of Our Lives in 1982, and the name reached the American top 20 within a decade.
How popular is Kayla?
132nd in Ireland and 365th in the United States.
Is Kayla a girl's or a boy's name?
Kayla is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Kayla?
Kayla has 2 syllables.
Is Kayla a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kayla currently ranks #132 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.