Kyle
Meaning
"narrow strait," from the Gaelic caol, the channels that thread Scotland's west coast; a regional surname that became one of America's defining boys' names of the 1980s and 90s. Compact, coastal, and friendly
The story
Kyle is Scottish geography: the Gaelic caol, a strait or narrow channel of water, found in place names like the Kyles of Bute and in Kyle, the old district of Ayrshire. It stayed a modest Scottish export in America for half a century, then began a long climb in the postwar decades that turned into one of the defining runs of its era. Through the 1980s and into a 1990s peak, Kyle was everywhere: playgrounds, class lists, sitcom credits, one of the signature boys' names of its generation. Since then it has slid steadily, the usual fate of a name so tightly bound to one cohort, and today it sits at roughly the level of the 1970s. Which is not an ending; it is a rest. Sharp, single-syllable and saltwater-cold, Kyle simply waits for the generation that will find it again.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Kyle peaked in the 1990s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
78 people · the #49,053 first name in Brazil · median age 13
Among people named Kyle living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Kyle
Most people given the name Kyle in the United States were born between 1980 and 1999. The Kyle 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.
The Kyle deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Kyle 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 Kyle fits with your family’s names and surname.
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