Humanverse

Kai vs Kaidin

American parents have registered 78,710 Kais since 1880, against 429 Kaidins. Kai is still ahead, with 4,002 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kai against Kaidin, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kai Kaidin

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

Kai has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1926 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2005, when Kai had 1,598 and Kaidin had 31.

Side by side

  Kai Kaidin
Total US births 78,710429
Most in one year 5,73234
Babies in 2025 4,002under 5
Estimated living today 78,000420
Median age today 816
Peak year 20222008
Best rank 59th boys3,286th boys
Rank in 2025 93rdunranked
First recorded 19262000
Girls / boys 8,478 / 70,23211 / 418

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 Kaidins alive today are over 16; half the Kais are over 8. That is 8 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: Kai and Kaidin.