How rare is the name Kale?

7,379 people in the United States have the first name Kale, about 1 in 40,931. It ranks #3,023 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

KALE

#3,023

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,379
About
1 in 40,931
This common or more
81.5%
Who bears it

Of the 7,379 people named Kale, 80.1% reported their origin as White, 6.3% as two or more races and 5.8% as Hispanic or Latino. 94.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Kale peaked in 2008, when 567 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19172025
Peak year
2008
Births that year
567
In 2025*
11 ▼98%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 7,605 babies have been given the name since 1917. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Kale by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2000s, when it ranked #1,534. The largest share of babies named Kale, 60.1%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1910s#10,9266
1920s#11,72211
1930s#11,9535
1940s#11,8886
1950s#8,67441
1960s#5,928117
1970s#3,863327
1980s#2,525786
1990s#2,5121,110
2000s#1,5342,985
2010s#2,1432,093
2020s#10,439118
Greatest Generation 1901–270.2%
Silent Generation 1928–450.1%
Baby boom 1946–641.3%
Generation X 1965–805.7%
Millennials 1981–9619.3%
Generation Z 1997–1260.1%
2013 and later13.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Kale is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Kale has been most common in Montana (7.3×), Kansas (5.9×), and Iowa (4.4×), and least common in New York (0.12×).

4,873 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Exactly as common as Kale

1 other first name also has 7,379 people.

#3,023 Britt · 7,379

Either side of Kale

#3,022 Lizzie · 7,411#3,023 Britt · 7,379#3,025 Faustino · 7,365#3,026 Rosaura · 7,362

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Kale, most common first.

#1,444 Kali · 23,482#2,148 Kaley · 12,428#2,976 Kala · 7,549#3,995 Kalie · 4,872#4,033 Kayle · 4,809#4,973 Kalee · 3,576#5,223 Kalea · 3,328#7,612 Kalei · 1,989

Also a last name

As a last name, Kale ranks #8,395 of 156,621, with 3,778 people. See Kale as a last name

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