Boy nameCurrently #439 in the USFalling

Kyle

KYL//kaɪl//

1 syllablePeak year: 19904 lettersStarts with K

Meaning & origin

Narrow strait, channel

Kyle comes from the Scottish Gaelic 'caol', meaning a narrow strait or channel, originally a place name in the Scottish Highlands. Its crisp, one-syllable sound made it a popular choice through the 1980s and 1990s.

Kyle's popularity over time

Yearly US births named Kyle, Social Security Administration data
YearBirths named Kyle
18815
18889
18895
18905
18917
18926
18937
189410
18957
18966
18997
19007
19027
19037
190410
19059
190610
19078
190810
190911
191015
191111
191235
191325
191442
191570
191662
191775
191867
191952
192085
192167
192281
192368
192488
192584
192685
1927102
192874
192980
193089
193179
193278
193374
193487
1935114
1936102
1937111
193877
1939101
194094
1941119
1942118
1943143
1944101
194586
1946117
1947162
1948146
1949181
1950341
1951554
1952537
1953513
1954560
1955537
1956656
19571,228
19581,174
19591,370
19601,485
19611,384
19621,850
19631,756
19641,590
19651,259
19662,010
19672,189
19681,996
19692,211
19702,855
19712,908
19722,539
19732,453
19742,693
19752,921
19763,372
19773,589
19784,675
19795,616
19805,949
19816,728
19828,397
198312,615
198412,777
198516,823
198619,576
198720,185
198820,186
198921,133
199022,947
199121,773
199220,887
199319,617
199418,553
199516,885
199615,705
199716,035
199815,370
199913,840
200012,022
200110,624
200210,108
20038,712
20047,900
20056,726
20066,197
20075,396
20084,735
20094,213
20103,613
20113,326
20123,019
20132,647
20142,456
20152,452
20162,082
20171,887
20181,745
20191,429
20201,101
2021930
2022831
2023785
2024747

Kyle through the decades

  • Kyle peaked in 1990, when 22,947 babies were named Kyle in the US.
  • Over the last 10 years of data (2015–2024), use of Kyle has fallen 67% compared to the 10 years before that.
  • Kyle currently ranks #439 in the US and is cooling off.

Nicknames

Kyle

Variants & spellings

Kile

Names like Kyle

Similar-sounding names.

Sibling names for Kyle

A different sound, a similar rhythm.