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Meaning of the nameKelly

Kelly is a name of Irish origin, an anglicized form of Ceallach or of the surname Ó Ceallaigh, now used as a female name in Brazil.

Meaning

The meaning of Kelly is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022)
118,991
Rank in Brazil
#275
Median age
34 years
2010 Census
95,532
people

Kelly in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Kelly, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (46,882 people).

118,412 women 579 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Kelly is most common

States with the highest share of people named Kelly in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Distrito Federal 0.088%
  2. São Paulo 0.078%
  3. Amapá 0.078%
  4. Goiás 0.075%
  5. Mato Grosso do Sul 0.072%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo34,7280.078%
Minas Gerais14,5640.071%
Rio de Janeiro11,1810.070%
Paraná7,7060.067%
Goiás5,2810.075%
Bahia5,0740.036%
Rio Grande do Sul4,7180.043%
Pará4,4890.055%
Santa Catarina3,4030.045%
Maranhão2,8490.042%
Ceará2,5690.029%
Amazonas2,5300.064%
Distrito Federal2,4640.088%
Pernambuco2,3940.026%
Mato Grosso2,3130.063%
Mato Grosso do Sul1,9760.072%
Espírito Santo1,9380.051%
Piauí1,3070.040%
Paraíba1,2770.032%
Sergipe1,1160.051%
Rio Grande do Norte1,0980.033%
Alagoas1,0980.035%
Tocantins7890.052%
Rondônia7870.050%
Amapá5700.078%
Roraima3940.062%
Acre3780.046%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Kelly

According to Behind the Name, Kelly is the anglicized form of the Irish name Ceallach or of the surname derived from it; Wiktionary gives the origin in the Irish surname Ó Ceallaigh. The origin of Ceallach is uncertain: it is traditionally said to mean 'bright-headed', but it may also come from Old Irish cellach, 'war, strife', or from cell, 'church'. In English, the name was mostly male before 1940 and began to be given to girls in the 1940s and 1950s, according to Behind the Name. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 118,991 people named Kelly, almost always women, born mostly in the 1980s.

It is the spelling of English origin, with a double L and a final Y, and the most common in the group.

Other spellings of Kelly

SpellingPeople (2022)
Kelly118,991
Kely21,688
Keli20,028
Kelli10,242

Sources

  1. Behind the Name: Kelly · behindthename.com · origin
  2. Wiktionary: Kelly · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  3. Behind the Name: Ceallach · behindthename.com · origin
  4. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Kelly · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Kelly

What does the name Kelly mean?

The meaning of Kelly is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Kelly in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 118,991 people with the first name Kelly, which ranks it number 275 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Kelly a boy's or a girl's name?

Kelly is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 118,412 women and 579 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Kelly?

Kelly is a name of Celtic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Kelly most common?

Proportionally, in Distrito Federal: 0.088% of the state's population is named Kelly (2,464 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Kelly?

Kely, Keli and Kelli. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Celtic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Kelly with a source. See the methodology.