The story in the numbers

473,641 girls have been named Kelly in the United States since 1907, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1977, with 18,234 births — 1.2% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 310 births in 2024, against 18,234 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1977, and the 1970s alone account for 28%. It has spent 77 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 41 of them in the top 100 and 1 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 82,317 boys have also been given it, 15% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Kelly

118

127

559

15,358

128,052

133,548

109,540

55,723

21,616

7,201

1,709

In 1977, its biggest year

Kelly was the 10th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1977 were Jennifer, Melissa, Amy, Jessica and Heather. See all of 1977.

Names that rose and fell with Kelly

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.