Girl · Old English
Kelsey
Say it: KEL-see
Meaning
From an English surname, probably from the Old English personal name Cēolsige, cēol 'ship' and sige 'victory'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Used earlier for men, it became a popular girls' name in the US in the 1980s and 1990s.
Its wave through time
A fashion of the 1990s
In the United States
- 153,491 babies given this name since 1891
- At its height in 1992, about 1 in 157 girls
- 581 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Kelsi, Kelsie
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.