Kody
- Pronunciation
- [Ko-dy]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- "Assistant, A Cushion, Possessions."
- Origin
- Celtic
About the Name Kody
Kody is a modern phonetic spelling of Cody, a name with Celtic roots. Its meaning is "assistant, a cushion, possessions" — a cluster of senses reflecting the Old Irish and Gaelic word cú-related forms and their descendants, though the precise etymology of Cody in its given-name use is partly uncertain, having traveled through Irish surname tradition before entering American naming culture. What is clear is that Kody shares the same sound and cultural footing as Cody, differing only in its distinctive K opening, which was a common stylistic choice for parents seeking a slightly more individualized spelling around the turn of the twenty-first century.
Kody first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000, also its peak year, reaching rank #350. The name demonstrated unusual longevity, remaining on the chart continuously through 2023, with 222 births recorded at rank #994 in that final tracked year. Total top-1000-qualifying births across the full window reached approximately 9,668.. Its more than two-decade run on the chart is a notable achievement for an alternate spelling, suggesting the K form built genuine independent loyalty rather than disappearing once the parent spelling Cody itself faded.
Kody is a two-syllable name with a warm, open sound and strong Western-American associations. Its recorded variant is Kodi. The name sits comfortably alongside other respelled classics of its era, combining familiar appeal with a subtle marker of individual choice — a combination that has helped it outlast many of its generational peers on the SSA chart.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Kody
US Popularity History (2000–2023)
Annual US births named Kody by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 783 boys named Kody (boy rank #350 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2023, ranked #994 for boys (222 US births). That's 644 places below its 2000 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Kody Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Kody the strongest states are Maryland, Alabama, Kentucky.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maryland | #605 | 60 |
| 2 | Alabama | #664 | 47 |
| 3 | Kentucky | #689 | 16 |
| 4 | Washington | #720 | 35 |
| 5 | Wisconsin | #739 | 30 |
| 6 | Louisiana | #748 | 32 |
| 7 | Michigan | #755 | 62 |
| 8 | Georgia | #758 | 110 |
| 9 | Missouri | #782 | 39 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | #814 | 60 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | #1,050 | 23 |
| 2 | Texas | #954 | 168 |
| 3 | Indiana | #936 | 17 |
| 4 | Illinois | #915 | 39 |
| 5 | New York | #892 | 103 |
| 6 | Florida | #876 | 95 |
| 7 | Ohio | #866 | 38 |
| 8 | California | #836 | 237 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | #814 | 60 |
| 10 | Missouri | #782 | 39 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Kody in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Kody?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Kody to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Kody against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).