Kyla: Meaning of Baby Name Kyla

About the Name Kyla

Kyla is the feminine form of Kyle (see separate entry on Kyle for the Scottish Gaelic caol etymology meaning "narrow strait" or "channel" — referring originally to those from such places). A separate Hebrew line connects Kyla to Kayla meaning "crown of laurels" or "crowned." A third proposed line connects Kyla to a feminine variation of Kyrie (Greek meaning "Lord").

The various spellings (Kyla, Kayla, Kayli, Kyleigh) are tracked separately by SSA. The Kyla spelling specifically appeals to parents seeking a sleeker form than the more popular Kayla. The name has been used predominantly for girls in modern American naming.

Notable bearers include American singer Kyla La Grange (born 1986, the British singer); American actress Kyla Pratt (born 1986, the American actress of UPN's One on One 2001–2006); and the contemporary American basketball player Kyla Bryant. Kyla's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 1995 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the multi-cultural etymological flexibility (Scottish/Hebrew/Greek), the popular two-syllable -la ending family (Kyla, Mila, Lila, Stella), and the modern visual presence with the K-spelling. Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to multi-cultural names. Common nicknames are scarce since the name is already short — Ky (the dominant short form, casual and warm) and the rare Lala each occasionally appear; the alternate spellings Kyla, Kylah, Kayla (a separate but related name), and Kyleigh have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Caol (Scottish Gaelic original) and the broader Kyle/Kayla family.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.

Quick Facts About Kyla

1,531

Hebrew baby names in our dictionary

836

Hebrew female names

99

4-letter K-names in our dictionary

598

K-female names total

2000–2025

years of US SSA records (26 total)

28,926

total US births named Kyla (all years)

US Popularity History (2000–2025)

📉 Falling fast: Kyla dropped 88 places in the US girls ranking over the last 5 years (#492 in 2020 → #580 in 2025).

Annual US births named Kyla by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2004 with 2,038 girls named Kyla (girl rank #162 that year).

Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #580 for girls (512 US births). That's 418 places below its 2004 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.

Where in the US Is Kyla Most Popular?

Average girl-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 girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Kyla the strongest states are Hawaii, New Mexico, Nebraska.

Strongest girls-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Hawaii	#130	38
2	New Mexico	#277	28
3	Nebraska	#336	30
4	South Carolina	#374	123
5	Connecticut	#389	78
6	Nevada	#392	56
7	Georgia	#395	261
8	Pennsylvania	#407	268
9	Wisconsin	#412	112
10	Mississippi	#412	58

Weakest girls-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Texas	#648	455
2	Oregon	#647	39
3	California	#615	520
4	Utah	#596	60
5	New York	#574	293
6	Missouri	#561	102
7	Colorado	#558	90
8	Indiana	#548	117
9	Tennessee	#547	132
10	Arizona	#547	122

Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Kyla in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.

Variant Forms

Name	Meaning	Gender	Origin
Kayla	Variant Of Kay. Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. Also Kayla Is A Character On Daytime TV Days Of Our Lives.	Female	English
Kaylee	Variant Of Katherine. Pure. Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure.	Female	English
Kiley	Boomerang. Variant Of Kylie. Pretty.	Female	Irish
Kylah	Feminine Form Of Kyle (Fair).	Female	Scottish
Kylee	Fair And Beautiful.	Female	Gaelic
Kyleigh		Female	English
Kyli		Female	English

Looking for names like Kyla?

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Compare Kyla to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Kyla against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Kyla vs Olivia 210,124 births since 2014

Kyla vs Emma 202,477 births since 2014

Kyla vs Sophia 169,709 births since 2014

Kyla vs Isabella 158,431 births since 2014

Kyla vs Ava 157,356 births since 2014

Kyla vs Charlotte 151,872 births since 2014

Kyla vs Mia 149,779 births since 2014

Kyla vs Amelia 142,728 births since 2014

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