Holding steady.
Popularity of Kilie since 1988
Babies named Kilie per year in U.S. Social Security records.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 15 |
| 1990s | 76 |
| 2000s | 140 |
| 2010s | 28 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Kilie is a rare and modern respelling of the more familiar Kelly or Kiley, first recorded in the United States in 1988. The name never entered the top 1,000 and has remained consistently uncommon, with its highest usage in 2004, the peak year. Despite its rarity, Kilie fits the popular trend of creative spellings for names ending in 'ee' sounds that surged in the 1990s and 2000s. Because it is so seldom used, no state has recorded enough births for it to appear in top state data. The name's stable trajectory indicates it has maintained a quiet but steady existence, appealing to parents seeking a distinctive but intuitive variation of the classic Kelly.
Kilie is a modern phonetic variant of Kelly or Kiley, which themselves derive from the Irish surname Ó Ceallaigh (descendant of Ceallach). Ceallach is an old Irish personal name of uncertain meaning, often interpreted as 'strife' or 'bright-headed'. In Scotland, Kelly also appears as a place name. Kilie emerged in the late 20th century as a respelling to simplify spelling or pronunciation.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Kiki, Lee
Sibling names for Kilie
Names that share Kilie's style, for a brother or sister.
