Kelly
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a unisex given name transferred from the surname. Borrowed from Irish Ó Ceallaigh. Doublet of Kellogg and Callahan.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Kelly (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Kelly has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2014. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 19 | – |
| 1999 | 11 | – |
| 2000 | 14 | – |
| 2001 | 17 | – |
| 2002 | 16 | – |
| 2003 | 17 | – |
| 2004 | 18 | – |
| 2005 | 15 | – |
| 2006 | 21 | – |
| 2007 | 11 | – |
| 2008 | 21 | – |
| 2009 | 16 | – |
| 2010 | 25 | – |
| 2011 | 40 | – |
| 2012 | 37 | – |
| 2013 | 40 | – |
| 2014 | 43 | – |
| 2015 | 41 | – |
| 2016 | 40 | – |
| 2017 | 35 | – |
| 2018 | 41 | 2 |
| 2019 | 36 | – |
| 2020 | 26 | – |
| 2021 | 38 | – |
| 2022 | 22 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 201 | 40 |
| 2000 | 226 | 41 |
| 2001 | 251 | 41 |
| 2002 | 264 | 41 |
| 2003 | 290 | 41 |
| 2004 | 314 | 43 |
| 2005 | 329 | 43 |
| 2006 | 354 | 45 |
| 2007 | 376 | 45 |
| 2008 | 408 | 46 |
| 2009 | 426 | 48 |
| 2010 | 464 | 46 |
| 2011 | 507 | 49 |
| 2012 | 546 | 49 |
| 2013 | 590 | 48 |
| 2014 | 647 | 50 |
| 2015 | 701 | 52 |
| 2016 | 743 | 54 |
| 2017 | 780 | 57 |
| 2018 | 832 | 62 |
| 2019 | 872 | 64 |
| 2020 | 908 | 64 |
Kelly in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Kelly.Hi! My name is Kelly.
- Kelly har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Kelly has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Vet du om Kelly kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Kelly is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Kellys mamma är lärare.Kelly's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Kellys mamma is Kelly's mum.
More names
Questions about Kelly
How do you pronounce Kelly in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Kelly in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Kelly mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a unisex given name transferred from the surname. Borrowed from Irish Ó Ceallaigh. Doublet of Kellogg and Callahan.
How popular is Kelly in Sweden?
22 babies were named Kelly in 2022. In 2020, 972 people in Sweden had Kelly as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2014 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.