How Many People Are Named John Kay?
There are approximately 224 people named John Kay living in the United States today. That makes this name combination uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 1,530,153 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name John with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Kay. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census background data where it is available.
Estimated People with This Name
224
1 in 1,530,153 Americans
Combination Rarity
Uncommon
First Name
View full profileJohn
Last Name
View full profileKay
John: Popularity Over Time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name John. The peak year was 1947 with 88,524 births. The average person named John today is 57 years old.
Ancestry of the First Name John
In the 2020 Census, the first name John was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (82.86%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (6.26%) and Hispanic (5.99%).
These percentages describe the people who had the first name John in the 2020 Census. They do not tell you the deeper origin or meaning of the name itself.
Read this as a snapshot of who already had the name in 2020, not as a trend line. The SSA chart above is still the better way to see how John rose or fell over time.
Ancestry of the Kay Surname
The surname Kay was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White in the 2020 Census.
This is a self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people who had the surname Kay in the published Census surname tables. It gives useful context around who was recorded with the name, but it does not tell the full family history of every Boone line.
How we calculated this
The first name "John" has an estimated frequency of 0.858% among living Americans, based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024 adjusted for mortality using CDC 2023 life tables.
The surname "Kay" appears at a rate of 7.60 per 100,000 people in the 2020 U.S. Census.
We do not use the Census first-name snapshot for the main estimate because it is only published once every 10 years. The latest public first-name Census file is from 2020, which is already 6 years old. SSA birth records plus CDC survival data give a better current estimate of how many people with the first name John are likely to be alive now.
Multiplying these frequencies against the U.S. population of ~343 million gives 224 estimated people. This assumes first names and last names are statistically independent. Full methodology.
Other people named John
Other people with the surname Kay
John Kay: Questions and Answers
How many people are named John Kay?
We estimate approximately 224 people named John Kay are alive in the United States today. The first name John is shared by 2,941,241 Americans, and the surname Kay is shared by 26,065.
How rare is the name John Kay?
This name combination is classified as Uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 1,530,153 Americans. The first name John is very common and the surname Kay is uncommon.
Is John a male or female name?
John is predominantly male, with 99.6% of bearers being male and 0.4% female. It peaked in popularity in 1947 and the average bearer today is 57 years old.
What does the Census say about the first name John?
In the 2020 Census, the first name John was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (82.86%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (6.26%) and Hispanic (5.99%). These percentages describe the people who had the name in the 2020 Census, not the deeper origin of the name itself.
Where does this data come from?
First name data comes from the Social Security Administration (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables. When available, first-name Census background data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau first-name tables. Surname data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Full methodology.
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