Kalief vs Kaliyah
American parents have registered 12,951 Kaliyahs since 1880, against 203 Kaliefs. Kaliyah is still ahead, with 791 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Kalief Kaliyah
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 46 years in which either name was published, Kaliyah for 32 years and Kalief for 14 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Kalief | Kaliyah | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 203 | 12,951 |
| Most in one year | 14 | 791 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 791 |
| Estimated living today | 200 | 13,000 |
| Median age today | 33 | 11 |
| Peak year | 1989 | 2025 |
| Best rank | 3,809th boys | 392nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 392nd |
| First recorded | 1978 | 1994 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 203 | 12,946 / 5 |
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 Kaliefs alive today are over 33; half the Kaliyahs are over 11. That is 22 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: Kalief and Kaliyah.