Kao
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Meaning
a traditional Hmong given name; precise etymology uncertain
How popular is Kao around the world?
In the United States, 18 babies were named Kao between 2020 and 2025.
Kao is on the official records of the United States and Brazil.
United States
1 in 1.2M
In the United States, 18 babies were named Kao between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Kao has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 54 people in Brazil were named Kao, ranked 63,204th, with a median age of 46.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Kao
Most people given the name Kao in the United States were born between 1980 and 1999. The Kao you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Kao deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Kao truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Kao fits with your family’s names and surname.
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