girl's name
Kylie
KY-lee
- Origin Disputed
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 131,845
the United States
#204
2025 births
Kylie is a girl's name usually said to mean "boomerang" in an Australian Aboriginal language. The word is genuine — but the name was almost certainly coined as a feminine of Kyle, and the boomerang story attached afterwards.
- Kylie is a name of Disputed origin.
- Peaked in 2004, when 5,597 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,224 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1960.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Kylie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1960s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 39 |
| 1970s | 1,302 |
| 1980s | 5,518 |
| 1990s | 22,849 |
| 2000s | 46,594 |
| 2010s | 36,165 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 9,873 |
What Kylie means
Kylie has two competing accounts. The boomerang reading rests on a real Nyungar word, kiley; the likelier origin is simply Kyle plus a feminine ending, which carries Kyle's meaning of a narrow strait.
Where Kylie comes from
Kiley or kiley is a genuine word for a boomerang in Nyungar, a language of south-western Australia, and it entered Australian English in the nineteenth century. Whether the name comes from it is another matter: Kylie appears in Australia in the 1950s alongside a wave of Kyle-derived feminines, and the boomerang etymology looks like a later and more appealing explanation. Kyle itself is Scottish Gaelic caol, a narrow strait. Kylie Minogue, whose career began in 1986, carried the name worldwide.
Kylie in use
Our data shows Kylie falling, peaking in 2004, at 204 in the United States against 1,114 in England and Wales. It first appears in our records in 1960. Its American peak comes eighteen years after Kylie Minogue's British breakthrough — a long lag that our year-by-year series makes visible and that a single national chart would hide.
How popular is Kylie?
In 2025, Kylie was given to 1,491 babies in the United States, ranking #204 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kylie 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 Kylie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kylie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kylie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Kylie
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.
Kylie 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 Kylie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kylie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kylie
What does the name Kylie mean?
Usually given as "boomerang," from the Nyungar kiley — though it is more likely a feminine form of Kyle.
Is Kylie an Aboriginal name?
The boomerang word is genuinely Nyungar. Whether the name derives from it is disputed, and the timing suggests it does not.
What does Kyle mean?
A narrow strait, from the Scottish Gaelic caol.
How popular is the name Kylie?
In 2025, Kylie was given to 1,491 babies in the United States, ranking #204 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Kylie a girl's or a boy's name?
Kylie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Kylie?
Kylie has 2 syllables.
When was Kylie most popular?
Kylie peaked in 2004, when 5,597 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Kylie?
Kylie is usually shortened to Ky.
Is Kylie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kylie currently ranks #204 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.