girl's name
Kelsey
KEL-see
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 174,981
the United States
#815
2025 births
Kelsey is a girl's name from an English place name, and its two proposed meanings — ship's victory and Cenel's island — have nothing in common. Neither is settled. It charts in five markets.
- Kelsey is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1992, when 11,882 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 9,500 babies in the United States is given this name.
- Kelsey started out as a boys' name and is now given almost entirely to girls.
- First appears in US birth records in 1891.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Kelsey over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1890s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 5 |
| 1910s | 97 |
| 1920s | 128 |
| 1930s | 107 |
| 1940s | 177 |
| 1950s | 303 |
| 1960s | 465 |
| 1970s | 1,929 |
| 1980s | 29,180 |
| 1990s | 86,599 |
| 2000s | 23,857 |
| 2010s | 10,084 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,807 |
What Kelsey means
Kelsey is variously given as ship's victory or as the island of Cenel, a personal name. The two proposals share no element, and the place name has no established derivation.
Where Kelsey comes from
Kelsey is an English place and surname whose derivation is genuinely open. One reading takes it as the Old English ceol, a ship, joined to sige, victory, giving a personal name that became a place; another takes the second element as ey, an island or dry ground in marsh, with a personal name Cenel before it. Both are defensible and neither is agreed. North and South Kelsey in Lincolnshire are the places in question, and its use as a given name is late twentieth-century American, arriving with Kelly and Kayla rather than from any English tradition.
Kelsey in use
Kelsey peaked in the United States in 1992, when 11,882 babies were registered — the largest single-year figure in this group — and is falling in our data. It now ranks 588th in Ireland on 6 births, 720th in Scotland, 815th in the United States on 349, 1301st in England and Wales on 25 and 2181st in France, across 174,981 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. About 97 percent of recorded births are female.
How popular is Kelsey?
In 2025, Kelsey was given to 349 babies in the United States, ranking #815 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kelsey 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.
Names that peaked alongside Kelsey
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kelsey also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kelsey over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Kelsey 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 Kelsey
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kelsey — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kelsey
What does the name Kelsey mean?
Not settled. Ship's victory and Cenel's island are both proposed, and they share no element.
Is Kelsey an English name?
The place and surname are English — North and South Kelsey in Lincolnshire. Its use as a given name is American.
Is Kelsey a boys' or girls' name?
About 97 percent of the births in our records are female.
How popular is Kelsey?
815th in the United States, down from a 1992 peak of 11,713 births.
How many syllables are in Kelsey?
Kelsey has 2 syllables.
Is Kelsey a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kelsey currently ranks #588 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.