Humanverse

Kahlan vs Kahli

American parents have registered 1,569 Kahlans since 1880, against 579 Kahlis. Kahlan is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kahlan against Kahli, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kahlan Kahli

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 38 years in which either name was published, Kahlan for 28 years and Kahli for 10 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Kahlan Kahli
Total US births 1,569579
Most in one year 16031
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 1,600570
Median age today 1416
Peak year 20102015
Best rank 1,456th girls5,127th girls
Rank in 2025 9,457thunranked
First recorded 19951984
Girls / boys 1,484 / 85462 / 117

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kahlis alive today are over 16; half the Kahlans are over 14. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kahlan and Kahli.