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 [ 2 syll. kel-ly, ke-lly ] The girl name Kelly is also used as a boy name, though it is far more popular for girls. It is pronounced KEHLiy KEY. Kelly is of Celtic origin. It is used mainly in English and Irish. Derived from the word ceall with the meaning 'church, monastery'. The name is known from the US actress Grace Kelly (1928-1982) who became Princess Grace of Monaco; her fame promoted the popularity of the female name. See Kelly for more info. Kelly has 26 forms. Forms of the name include Kailee, Kayla, Kaylie, Keleigh, Kelia, Kelisa, Kelise, Kelleen, Kelleigh, Kellen, Kellene, Kellia, Kellina, Kelline, Kiley, and Qeleigh. Other English forms include the spelling variants Kailey, Keli, Kelie, Kelle, Kellea, Kellee, Kelley, Kelli, Kellie, and Kellye. See also the related form, the English Kylie. Kelly is popular as a baby girl name. The name grew in popularity from the 1940s up to the 1970s. At the height of its usage in 1977, 1.109% of baby girls were named Kelly. It was #10 in rank then. The baby name has seen a marked drop in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #248 with a usage of only 0.068%, but it was nevertheless the 3rd most popular after the English Kayla and the English Kylie, within all girl names in its family. It was 5 times more widely used than Kelly in 2008. Although Kelly is used more commonly as a girl name today, there was a period prior to 1956 that it was more popular with boys. After 1957, increasingly the name became more popular with girls than with boys. In 2002, 16 times more girls than boys were given the name Kelly. Baby names that sound like Kelly include the English Kehly, the English Keli, the English Kelie, the English Kellee, the English Kelley, the English Kelli, the English Kellie, the English Kellye, the English Kaala, the English and Arabic Kaela, the English Kaelah, the English Kaelee, the English Kaeleigh, the English Kaeley, the English Kaelly, the English Kaely, the English Kahla, the English Kahlei, the English Kahley, and the Hawaiian Kahlia. Details of famous persons named Kelly: KEY: Pronunciation for Kelly: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
