Kelly

Kelly is a unisex given name: about 15% of people named Kelly are men and 85% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

Mostly femaleHigh

Male 15%Female 85%

Verdict: Mostly female
Male / female split: 15% male / 85% female
Confidence: High (64 or more weighted country observations)
Most common in: United States, Great Britain, Belgium
US births since 1880: 81,550 male / 471,024 female
Data: nam_dict (GFDL) + US SSA
Updated: 2026-09-11

How to address Kelly

To address Kelly when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear Kelly," in English, "Guten Tag Kelly," in German. About 15% of people named Kelly are men and 85% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.

Ready-made greetings in six languages

English

Dear Kelly,

German

Guten Tag Kelly,

French

Bonjour Kelly,

Spanish

Estimado/a Kelly:

Chinese

Kelly您好：

Japanese

Kelly様

English

Hi Kelly,

German

Hi Kelly,

French

Salut Kelly,

Spanish

Hola Kelly,

Chinese

Kelly你好：

Japanese

Kellyさん

Greeting generator

This is a statistical estimate, not a statement about the gender, identity or correct form of address of any particular person.

Country breakdown

Gender of the name Kelly by country (nam_dict, 55 country columns)
Country	How common	Usually	Male share
United States	very common	woman's name	15%
Great Britain	uncommon	woman's name	25%
Belgium	uncommon	woman's name	25%
Estonia	uncommon	woman's name	2%
Netherlands	rare	woman's name	25%
Ireland	rare	woman's name	25%
Malta	rare	woman's name	25%

United States birth data

81,550 male · 471,024 female · 552,574 births recorded

Male 15%Female 85%

Since 1980: 8% male.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kelly a male or female name?

Kelly is a unisex given name: about 15% of people named Kelly are men and 85% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

How do I address Kelly in an email?

Is Kelly a unisex name?

Kelly is not a unisex name: 15% of people named Kelly are men. Kelly leans strongly female overall.

Sources

Gender by country: nam_dict, the c't first-names dictionary by Joerg Michael, roughly 44,000 names across 55 countries, licensed GFDL. US frequencies: United States Social Security Administration baby-name data, public domain. Method: how we classify names. Full dataset: data & licences. Data built 2026-09-11.

Cite this page

DearWho, "Is Kelly a male or female name?", https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/kelly (accessed 2026-09-11). Data: nam_dict (J. Michael, GFDL) and US SSA, built 2026-09-11.

BibTeX

@misc{dearwho_kelly,
  title  = {Is Kelly a male or female name?},
  author = {{DearWho}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/kelly},
  note   = {Data: nam_dict (GFDL), US SSA public domain}
}