Kelly: Meaning, origin and popularity

Pronounced KEL-ee · 2 syllables

Borrowed from Irish O Ceallaigh. Doublet of Kellogg and Callahan.

How popular is Kelly?

Kelly was the #851 name in the US in 2025, given to 403 babies. It’s used less than it was: down 54% on 2011–2015. It peaked around 1970.

Babies named Kelly in the US by five-year period, relative to its peak (around 1970).

Half of US adults named Kelly are older than 49; most are between 28 and 66. (Estimated from US births by year and life tables.)

Names that real brothers and sisters of people named Kelly have, from family records on Wikidata, most common first.

Chosen by the same families or with a similar style and era.

Kelly is pronounced KEL-ee.

Kelly was the #851 name in the US in 2025, given to 403 babies. It’s used less than it was: down 54% on 2011–2015. It peaked around 1970.

Half of US adults named Kelly are older than 49. Most are between 28 and 66.