Humanverse

Kay vs Kaydien

American parents have registered 102,545 Kays since 1880, against 43 Kaydiens. Kay is still ahead, with 47 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kay against Kaydien, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kay Kaydien

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

Kay has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2012, when Kay had 52 and Kaydien had 12.

Side by side

  Kay Kaydien
Total US births 102,54543
Most in one year 3,71812
Babies in 2025 47under 5
Estimated living today 62,00040
Median age today 738
Peak year 19422012
Best rank 75th girls6,626th boys
Rank in 2025 3,903rdunranked
First recorded 18822012
Girls / boys 98,621 / 3,9240 / 43

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 Kays alive today are over 73; half the Kaydiens are over 8. That is 65 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: Kay and Kaydien.