Humanverse

Kiely vs Kieth

American parents have registered 2,837 Kieths since 1880, against 849 Kielys. But in 2025 it was Kiely that was commoner, 5 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kiely against Kieth, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kiely Kieth

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 109 years in which either name was published, Kieth for 78 years and Kiely for 31 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Kiely Kieth
Total US births 8492,837
Most in one year 5288
Babies in 2025 5under 5
Estimated living today 8402,000
Median age today 2355
Peak year 20081964
Best rank 3,222nd girls806th boys
Rank in 2025 14,942ndunranked
First recorded 19691915
Girls / boys 849 / 00 / 2,837

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 Kieths alive today are over 55; half the Kielys are over 23. That is 32 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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