How popular is the baby name Kayla in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Kayla.

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Popularity of the baby name Kayla


Posts that mention the name Kayla

Biggest changes in girl name popularity, 2012

Which girl names made the biggest gains from 2011 to 2012?

And which ones suffered the biggest losses?

This is where the stats start telling us some interesting stories!

Below I’ve got two different lists for both “increases” and “decreases.”

On the left is the my list. I looked at the raw number differences between the 2011 names and the 2012 names. My analysis covers all 19,380 girl names on the 2012 list.

On the right is the SSA’s list. They looked at the ranking differences between the 2011 names and the 2012 names. Their analysis covers approximately the top 500 girl names on the 2012 list.

Biggest Increases

The baby girl names that saw the biggest popularity increases from 2011 to 2012 were…

Nancy’s list (raw numbers)SSA’s list (rankings)
  1. Harper, +2,496 babies [rank: 54th to 24th]
  2. Emma, +2,053 babies [rank: 3rd to 2nd]
  3. Paisley, +1,269 babies [rank: 195th to 104th]
  4. Aria, +1,232 babies [rank: 157th to 91st]
  5. Skylar, +1,173 babies [rank: 145th to 87th]
  6. Aubree, +1,100 babies [rank: 99th to 60th]
  7. Zoey, +1,030 babies [rank: 28th to 20th]
  8. Charlotte, +1,017 babies [rank: 27th to 19th]
  9. Avery, +952 babies [rank: 18th to 13th]
  10. Aubrey, +846 babies [rank: 20th to 15th]
  11. Amelia, +842 babies [rank: 30th to 23rd]
  12. Mila, +835 babies [rank: 174th to 115th]
  13. Genesis, +779 babies [rank: 82nd to 56th]
  14. Hannah, +672 babies [rank: 25th to 22nd]
  15. Penelope, +647 babies [rank: 169th to 125th]
  16. Hadley, +645 babies [rank: 178th to 130th]
  17. Nora, +639 babies [rank: 137th to 107th]
  18. Cataleya, +608 babies [rank: 4,931st to 479th]
  19. Cora, +516 babies [rank: 203rd to 155th]
  20. Reagan, +470 babies [rank: 121st to 97th]
  1. Arya, +298 (711th to 413th)
  2. Perla, +190 (642nd to 452nd)
  3. Catalina, +171 (648th to 477th)
  4. Elisa, +168 (534th to 366th)
  5. Raelynn, +155 (496th to 341st)
  6. Rosalie, +141 (547th to 406th)
  7. Haven, +140 (572nd to 432nd)
  8. Raelyn, +136 (585th to 449th)
  9. Briella, +123 (498th to 375th)
  10. Marilyn, +119 (545th to 426th)
  11. Adelynn, +116 (581st to 465th)
  12. Hanna, +106 (454th to 348th)
  13. Ayla, +97 (347th to 250th)
  14. Averie, +96 (554th to 458th)
  15. Arabella, +92 (337th to 245th)
  16. Paisley, +91 (195th to 104th)
  17. Arielle, +91 (501st to 410th)
  18. Adalynn, +88 (328th to 240th)
  19. Elsie, +86 (483rd to 397th)
  20. Myla, +85 (484th to 399th)

Check out Cataleya! That’s quite a jump.

Here are last year’s raw number jumps and last year’s ranking jumps.

Biggest Decreases

The baby girl names that saw the biggest popularity decreases from 2011 to 2012 were…

Nancy’s list (raw numbers)SSA’s list (rankings)
  1. Chloe, -1,361 babies [rank: 10th to 11th]
  2. Alexis, -1,194 babies [rank: 26th to 40th]
  3. Addison, -1,158 babies [rank: 13th to 14th]
  4. Madison, -1,017 babies [rank: 8th to 9th]
  5. Alyssa, -935 babies [rank: 37th to 44th]
  6. Isabella, -893 babies [rank: 2nd to 3rd]
  7. Natalie, -760 babies [rank: 14th to 17th]
  8. Nevaeh, -739 babies [rank: 35th to 39th]
  9. Ashley, -709 babies [rank: 42nd to 50th]
  10. Makayla, -691 babies [rank: 56th to 69th]
  11. Emily, -664 babies [rank: 6th to 6th]
  12. Khloe, -644 babies [rank: 49th to 55th]
  13. Leah, -642 babies [rank: 29th to 33rd]
  14. Abigail, -622 babies [rank: 7th to 7th]
  15. Gabriella, -608 babies [rank: 33rd to 37th]
  16. Kayla, -568 babies [rank: 59th to 70th]
  17. Brianna, -562 babies [rank: 45th to 51st]
  18. Destiny, -549 babies [rank: 91st to 113th]
  19. Sydney, -531 babies [rank: 65th to 78th]
  20. Jocelyn, -515 babies [rank: 70th to 92nd]
  1. Dulce, -159 (415th to 574th)
  2. Mikaela, -141 (451st to 592nd)
  3. Estrella, -129 (433rd to 562nd)
  4. Danna, -125 (365th to 490th)
  5. Audrina, -122 (318th to 440th)
  6. Cameron, -113 (440th to 553rd)
  7. Kiera, -108 (482nd to 590th)
  8. Savanna, -101 (346th to 447th)
  9. Paola, -98 (477th to 575th)
  10. Tenley, -96 (424th to 520th)
  11. Kendra, -94 (293rd to 387th)
  12. Breanna, -94 (309th to 403rd)
  13. Kailyn, -93 (399th to 492nd)
  14. Jasmin, -93 (422nd to 515th)
  15. Joselyn, -92 (369th to 461st)
  16. Kiley, -90 (423rd to 513th)
  17. Jayden, -88 (292nd to 380th)
  18. Liana, -82 (464th to 546th)
  19. Sasha, -77 (374th to 451st)
  20. Karen, -66 (287th to 353rd)

Here are last year’s raw number drops and last year’s ranking drops.

Source: SSA’s Change In Popularity From 2011 To 2012

Popular baby names in New York City, 2011

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

Last year — for the third year in a row — New York City’s most popular baby names were Jayden and Isabella.

More than 800 baby boys were named Jayden and more than 600 baby girls were named Isabella in 2011.

Here are more of the top boy names:

RankOVERALLAsian &
Pacific
Islander		BlackHispanicWhite
1JAYDENEthanJaydenJaydenMichael
2JacobJaydenAidenJustinJoseph
3EthanRyanElijahJacobJacob
4DanielJustinJeremiahMatthewDavid
5MichaelLucasJoshuaAngelBenjamin
6MatthewJasonEthanEthanMoshe
7JustinAidenJosiahChristopherDaniel
8DavidKevinIsaiahDanielAlexander
9Aiden*EricTylerAlexanderMatthew
10Alexander*DanielMichaelAnthonyJack

*Aiden and Alexander are new. They replaced Joseph (#13) and Joshua (#14).

And here are the rest of the top girl names:

RankOVERALLAsian &
Pacific
Islander		BlackHispanicWhite
1ISABELLASophiaMadisonIsabellaEsther
2SophiaChloeLondonMiaEmma,
Olivia
3OliviaEmilyKaylaSophiaLeah
4EmmaOliviaChloeAshleySophia
5MiaEmmaAaliyahCamilaChaya
6EmilyIsabellaMakaylaSofiaSarah
7MadisonTiffanyNevaehEmilyRachel
8LeahAshleyGabrielleHaileyAva
9ChloeFionaTaylorLeahIsabella
10Sofia*AngelaJada,
Olivia,
Serenity		MadisonChana

*Sofia is new. It replaced Sarah (#11).

Source: Mayor Bloomberg Announces Isabella and Jayden Are 2011’s Most Popular Baby Names for Third Year in a Row

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2011

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Jack and Emily were the most popular baby names in Ireland in 2011.

Here are the full top-20 lists for each gender:

Girl Names

  1. Emily (1.6% of all baby girls)
  2. Sophie
  3. Emma
  4. Grace
  5. Lily
  6. Sarah
  7. Lucy
  8. Ava
  9. Chloe
  10. Katie
  11. Ella
  12. Mia
  13. Aoife [EE-fa]
  14. Caoimhe [KEE-va or KWEE-va]
  15. Kate
  16. Leah
  17. Hannah
  18. Anna
  19. Saoirse [SEER-sha or SAIR-sha]
  20. Ruby

Boy Names

  1. Jack (2.4% of all baby boys)
  2. James
  3. Sean [shawn]
  4. Daniel
  5. Connor
  6. Ryan
  7. Adam
  8. Harry
  9. Michael
  10. Alex (tie)
  11. Dylan (tie)
  12. Luke
  13. Cian [KEE-an or KEEN]
  14. Jamie
  15. Oisin [UH-sheen or O-sheen]
  16. Aaron
  17. Liam
  18. Thomas
  19. Darragh
  20. Charlie

(And here are the 2010 rankings, if you’d like to compare.)

The names that increased the most in popularity from 2010 to 2011 were…

 Boy NamesGirl Names
By rank:Tommy – 160th to 88th
Mason – 128th to 70th
Hugh – 126th to 99th
Donnacha – 102nd to 76th
Leo – 94th to 79th		Michaela – 164th to 78th
Muireann – 120th to 87th
Sofia – 80th to 58th
Kayla – 41st to 21st
Eve (tie) – 60th to 45th
Maebh (tie) – 107th to 92nd
By number of babies:Harry – 364 to 499
Adam – 581 to 637
Mason – 59 to 115
Thomas – 347 to 403
Rian – 161 to 213		Lily – 371 to 496
Kayla – 186 to 306
Caoimhe – 323 to 398
Mia – 344 to 400
Ella – 380 to 434

Tommy’s rise can be attributed to Tommy Moon, a fictional baby who was “born” (read: introduced) on the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders at the very end of 2010.

And we already know why Mason is so popular…

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names 2011 [pdf], Jack and Emily top baby names list

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Jamaica, 2011

Flag of Jamaica
Flag of Jamaica

According to Jamaica’s Registrar General’s Department (RGD), the top baby names in Jamaica in 2011 were Gabrielle and Jayden.

Here are the top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names:

Girl names

  1. Gabrielle
  2. Amelia
  3. Tianna
  4. Brianna
  5. Jada

Boy names

  1. Jayden
  2. Daniel
  3. Joshua
  4. Justin
  5. Jaden & Ajani (tie)

And here are a few extra facts:

  • While Jayden remained the top boy name, usage decreased nearly 13% from 2010 to 2011.
  • Ajani rose to 5th place (2011) from 8th place (2010).
  • Jada rose to 5th place (2011) from 9th place (2010).
  • The top middle names were Anthony (same as in 2010) and Abigail (beating 2010’s Amanda).

Interestingly, according to a 2011 pamphlet called All About Baby (PDF), the top 10 names per gender “registered at the RGD” (during some unspecified previous year?) were…

  • Girl names: Brianna, Rihanna, Gabrielle, Ashley, Jada, Tiana, Abigail, Amelia, Kayla, Danielle
  • Boy names: Daniel, Jayden, Joshua, Jordan, Ricardo, Anthony, Nathan, Michael, Alex, Malik

These lists seem more similar to Jamaica’s 2008 rankings, which were topped by Brihanna and Daniel.

Source: “Jayden, Gabrielle most popular Jamaican baby names.” Jamaica Observer 11 Jun. 2012.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Jamaica (public domain)