The story in the numbers

485,170 boys have been named Kyle in the United States since 1881, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1990, with 22,710 births — 1.1% of all boys recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 716 births in 2024, against 22,710 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1991, and the 1990s alone account for 37%. It has spent 127 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 36 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 8,915 girls have also been given it, 1.8% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Kyle

449

814

901

1,155

5,788

16,579

32,652

141,950

180,218

76,153

24,128

4,230

In 1990, its biggest year

Kyle was the 18th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1990 were Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua and Daniel. See all of 1990.

Names that rose and fell with Kyle

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.