252 K Surnames With Meanings and Origins

K surnames cover a lot of ground, from the regal King to the easygoing Kelly, with German, Japanese, Hawaiian, Polish, and Irish roots all in the mix.

Whether you are tracing a family tree or naming a character, here are 252 last names starting with K, each with its meaning and origin. The Census Bureau counted about 6.3 million surnames in the 2010 Census and published only the 162,253 of them that turned up at least 100 times ⁽¹⁾, so a good share of the names below are genuinely uncommon.

Plenty of these surnames now work as first names too, and where U.S. birth records have something to say about that, we have added the current figure.

80 Popular Last Names That Start With K

These are the K surnames you are most likely to meet, from Irish and German staples to household names across Asia and the Pacific.

1. Kaiser – Derives from the German word for “emperor”; a variation of the ancient Roman title Caesar. As a first name it is climbing in the U.S., where 296 boys were called Kaiser in 2025 for a rank of #836.
2. Kalani – A Hawaiian surname composed of “ka” (the) and “lani” (heavens). It doubles as a well-used American girl’s name, ranked #387 in 2025 after roughly tripling over the previous decade.
3. Kalua – Hawaiian name. It traditionally marks a second-born child.
4. Kamada – Japanese surname meaning “rice field” or “rice paddy”; can also mean “kettle pot.”
5. Kamaka – A boy’s name in Hawaiian meaning “rock” or “beloved child”; also means “rock” in Māori. U.S. birth records listed it as a first name for the first time in 2025, when five boys received it.
6. Kandiah – Tamil surname that doubles as a male given name. Its meaning has never been pinned down. It hasn’t turned up yet in U.S. Social Security’s first-name data.
7. Kane – An Anglo form of the Gaelic Ó’Catháin, meaning “descendant of Cathán” or “warrior.” Kane has grown into a familiar boy’s name on its own, sitting at #451 in 2025.
8. Kaneko – Means “golden child” or “metal child” in Japanese. It also serves as a place name. It hasn’t crossed into U.S. first-name data.
9. Kang – A Chinese-Mandarin surname meaning “healthy”; inspired by the ancient title Kang Shu. It has never settled in as an American first name; federal baby-name data last recorded it in 2012.
10. Kanye – Means “next in line” in Nigerian Yoruba and “let’s give” in Nigerian Igbo. First-name use has dropped hard since the mid-2000s, down about 74 percent on the previous decade to #12,964 in 2025.
11. Kaplan – A Germanic and Slavic name for a “chaplain”; also means “tiger” in Turkish. Eleven American boys were given Kaplan as a first name in 2025, so it stays mostly in surname territory.
12. Kapoor – Indian-Punjab name meaning “camphor”; derived from the Sanskrit “karpūra.”
13. Karen – Derives from the Germanic given name Karel; means “ray of sunlight” in Hebrew. Karen was a giant among U.S. girl names in 1965 at #3, and 175 girls still received it in 2025.
14. Karim – Means “dignified” in Arabic; derived from “karama,” a name of God in Islam. Nearly 200 boys were named Karim in the U.S. in 2025, putting it at #1,084.
15. Karlsson – Scandinavian patronymic meaning “son of Karl”. It’s one of the family names you meet most in Sweden. U.S. birth records carry no count for it as a first name.
16. Karr – Gaelic name meaning “swamp” or “from the marsh”; based on the Old Norse Kjarr.
17. Karsten – A Germanic surname derived from Christian, meaning “anointed”. Its life as an American first name has cooled, landing at #4,194 in 2025 against a 2001 high of #1,249.
18. Kato – Japanese name meaning “add/increase” and “wisteria”; the 10th most popular surname in Japan. Use as a U.S. boy’s name has roughly doubled on the previous decade, reaching #2,664 in 2025.
19. Kaufman – Originally the German Kaufmann; a Jewish occupational surname for a “merchant.”
20. Kaur – Punjabi surname from the Sanskrit kumari, meaning girl or daughter.
21. Kazem – Arabic and Persian surname for someone tolerant and forgiving.
22. Keating – From the Old English Cȳting, meaning “kite”; also a form of the Gaelic Céitinn. Federal baby-name records last listed Keating as a first name in 2021, so it reads unmistakably as a surname.
23. Keefer – Associated with “pine trees” in German; an occupational equivalent to Cooper. It had a small first-name run around 1970 at #2,353 and now barely registers.
24. Keener – Variation of the German Kuehner; associated with the Old English “cȳna,” meaning “cow slope.” The name shows up in U.S. baby-name data exactly once, in 1943.
25. Keita – Derived from the West African Keita clan; means “to inherit”. Five American boys were named Keita in 2025, a long way from its 1981 high of #1,747.
26. Keith – A Celtic male name meaning “forest”; also a German nickname for “sprout” or “offspring.” Keith was a U.S. top 40 boy’s name in 1966 and still went to 311 boys in 2025.
27. Keller – German occupational name for a “cellar master” or someone in charge of a cellar. Parents borrow it for boys as well; Keller ranked exactly #2,000 in 2025.
28. Kelly – Popular 5-letter surname from the Gaelic “ceallach,” meaning “bright-headed.” Kelly reached #10 among American girls in 1977 and has eased back to #852.
29. Kelsey – Habitational name from Lincolnshire, England; means “Ceol’s island”. Its peak as a girl’s name came in 1992 at #23, with 335 girls given it in 2025.
30. Kemp – Based on the Old English “cempa” and Old Norse “kempa,” meaning “warrior.” Twenty U.S. boys carried Kemp as a first name in 2025.
31. Kemper – German name for a “peasant farmer”; related to the surname Kamp. It surfaces occasionally on birth certificates, ranked #6,288 in 2025.
32. Kennedy – Anglo variant of the Gaelic Ó’Ceannéidigh, meaning “descendant of Ceannéidigh.” Kennedy is the only name here still inside the U.S. top 100 as a baby name, at #85 for girls born in 2025, per Social Security Administration data.
33. Kenney – Irish variation of Kenny; means “descendant of Coinneach” in Gaelic. Its best first-name years were around 1960; the data last picked it up in 2020.
34. Kent – Comes from the Celtic “cant,” meaning “bordering of a circle” or “edge.” Kent holds steady as a boy’s name, going to 101 American boys in 2025.
35. Kenyatta – East African surname inspired by a beaded belt worn by the Maasai; means “jewel”. American parents used it most in 1975, when it reached #533 as a first name.
36. Keough – Anglo form of the Gaelic MacEochaidh, meaning “son of Eochaidh.”
37. Kerns – Anglicized from the Gaelic O’Ceirin. It means descendant of the dark one. No U.S. first-name count turns up for it.
38. Kerr – Describes someone “living near a marsh or swampy woodland”; also linked to Old Norse Kjarr. First-name use is rare and sporadic, last recorded in 2023.
39. Kerrigan – Gaelic surname Ó’Ciaragán; derived from “ciar,” meaning “dark-complexioned.” Thirty girls were named Kerrigan in 2025, down from its 1996 peak at #1,556.
40. Key – From the Old English “coeg,” meaning “key”; occupational name for a key-maker. It has turned up as a U.S. first name since 1914, always in small numbers.
41. Khalid – Arabic name meaning “immortal” or “everlasting”. Khalid is a solid American first name too, ranked #940 for boys in 2025.
42. Khan – Mongolian title for a “military chief” or “royalty”; from “khaan.” First-name use is rising from a small base, reaching #7,442 in 2025.
43. Kidd – Scottish name meaning “young goat”; also a nickname for Christopher. In U.S. baby-name data it is the rarest first name on this list, #13,061 in 2025, roughly one boy in 333,000.
44. Kiernan – From the Gaelic MacKiernan, meaning “son of a lord”. Thirty-four boys were given Kiernan in 2025.
45. Killian – Based on the Celtic “ceallach,” meaning “bright-headed” or “little warrior”. Killian has become a genuinely popular boy’s name in the U.S., ranked #418 in 2025 with 770 births that year.
46. Kilpatrick – Gaelic name. It means “son of the servant of (Saint) Patrick”. It doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security’s public name file.
47. Kim – Means “gold” in Chinese; the most common surname in South Korea. As a first name Kim peaked at #34 for American girls in 1960 and is uncommon for babies now.
48. Kimmel – Occupational name for a spice trader, from the Middle German kumin, or caraway.
49. Kinder – Based on the German “kind” (child); often given to someone with many children. Its whole first-name history sits in the 1980s.
50. King – Old English nickname for a “tribal leader” or someone acting “king-like.” King has appeared in U.S. birth records since 1880 and reached #405 in 2025.
51. Kingsley – Old English name meaning “from the king’s wood, glade, or meadow”. It sits at #1,096 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025, with 196 births that year.
52. Kingston – English habitational name meaning “the king’s estate.” Kingston is comfortable as a first name, ranked #204 for U.S. boys in 2025.
53. Kipp – Middle German occupational name for a fur trader; means “bundle”. Kipp is this list’s biggest revival, rebounding nearly twentyfold in use since bottoming out in 2008, though it now ranks #2,173 among boys in 2025.
54. Kirby – Anglo form of the Gaelic Ó’Ciarmhaic, meaning “church settlement”. Thirty-six boys got Kirby in 2025, holding the quiet foothold it has kept for decades.
55. Kirk – Danish and Scottish name meaning “church”; for someone living near a church. Kirk peaked as an American boy’s name at #138 in 1962 and now sits at #2,551.
56. Kirkwood – Scottish habitational name meaning “the wood near the church.” It has almost no first-name history, last showing up in 1989.
57. Kishi – Japanese name meaning “beach” or “seashore”. It’s also a girl’s name in Japan. It hasn’t been logged as a U.S. first name in SSA’s published data.
58. Klement – Derived from the Latin “clement,” meaning “merciful” or “mild.”
59. Kline – Variation of Klein; means “wedge” or describes someone living near wedge-shaped land. The name has appeared on U.S. birth certificates since 1913, though rarely.
60. Knapp – German occupational surname from Knabe. It was used for a young unmarried man or a squire.
61. Knight – Royal last name from the Old English “criht,” meaning “servant” or soldier. First-name use has more than doubled on the previous decade, reaching #2,435 in 2025.
62. Knox – Scottish-Gaelic surname meaning “round-topped hill.” Knox is at its best rank ever as an American boy’s name, #196 in 2025.
63. Ko – Variant of the Mandarin “Gao,” meaning “high”; also means “stone” in Hungarian. It appears in the baby-name data only now and then, most recently in 2021.
64. Kobayashi – Japanese surname. It means “small forest”. SSA’s baby-name data has nothing filed under it as a first name.
65. Koch – German and Jewish occupational name for a cook or chef.
66. Kong – Chinese-Mandarin name meaning “hole”; related to the name Kong Fu. As a given name it charted from 1979, peaked at #1,329 in 1993, and was last recorded in 2012.
67. Konstantinov – Slavic surname. It means “son of Konstantin”. It hasn’t crossed into U.S. first-name data.
68. Kopp – Middle German name meaning head, given to families living up on a hilltop.
69. Kostic – Serbian patronymic surname. It’s based on the Slavic name Kostadin. U.S. birth records carry no count for it as a first name.
70. Kovacs – Hungarian form of the Slavic Kovac, meaning blacksmith.
71. Kramer – Dutch and German last name for a “traveling merchant” or shopkeeper. Eight American boys were named Kramer in 2025.
72. Krause – German name for someone with curly hair. In some places it’s also an occupational name for a jug seller.
73. Krieger – Germanic occupational surname for a mercenary soldier.
74. Kristiansen – Danish and Norwegian surname. It means “son of Christian”. No U.S. first-name count turns up for it.
75. Krueger – German occupational name for a potter who turned out jugs and pitchers.
76. Kuhn – Derived from the German first name Kuno or Konrad. It means “bold”. It doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security’s public name file.
77. Kumar – Sanskrit name meaning “prince”; title for the Hindu god Kārtikeya. It has seen light U.S. first-name use since 1972, last recorded in 2019.
78. Kuo – Chinese surname meaning “vast”; related to the name Guo.
79. Kurosawa – Japanese surname meaning “black swamp”. It’s well known through filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It hasn’t cracked the U.S. first-name lists SSA publishes.
80. Kuykendall – Dutch name Koekendaal, meaning “chicken valley.”

85 Unique Last Names Starting With K

Want something with more edge? These K surnames trade familiarity for a distinctive sound and a backstory worth repeating.

1. Kaase – Middle German occupational name. It denoted a cheese maker or seller.
2. Kaczka – Polish last name and nickname meaning “duck.”
3. Kaczmarek – Polish diminutive of the word for innkeeper. It marks a family that once kept the tavern. It hasn’t earned a spot in U.S. first-name counts.
4. Kadeř – Form of the Arabic “qādir,” meaning “powerful”; common in Bangladesh.
5. Kadlec – Czech occupational surname. It denotes a “weaver”. It hasn’t crossed into U.S. first-name data.
6. Kafka – Czech surname meaning “jackdaw” (a crow-like bird); famous via author Franz Kafka.
7. Kagawa – Japanese name meaning fragrant river. It traces back to the Taira clan. U.S. birth records carry no count for it as a first name.
8. Kahale – Hawaiian surname meaning “the house”; also a variant of Mac Cathail.
9. Kahananui – Hawaiian name. It means the great turning point.
10. Kalama – Hawaiian name meaning “the torch”; related to the Kaonde tribe.
11. Kalili – Hawaiian name shared with a native violet. It’s also read as “the jealousy”. No U.S. first-name count turns up for it.
12. Kaloyanchev – Russian and Bulgarian name meaning “son of Kaloyan.”
13. Kałuża – Polish and Slovenian nickname. It described someone living near a mud puddle. It doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security’s public name file.
14. Kameāloha – Hawaiian name meaning “the beloved thing.”
15. Kamei – Japanese surname. It means “turtle well”. No U.S. first-name mention turns up for it in SSA’s data.
16. Kamil – Arabic name meaning “the perfect one.” Thirty-two boys were named Kamil in the U.S. in 2025.
17. Kamiński – Polish occupational name for a stone carver; from “kamien” (stone).
18. Kamiyama – Japanese name. It means “God’s mountain” or “upper mountain”. SSA’s first-name records have no listing for it.
19. Kassab – Arabic occupational name for a “butcher.”
20. Kasun – German habitational name. It comes from Kassuhn near Salzwedel. It’s not among the first names SSA has on record in the U.S.
21. Kat – Middle Eastern surname; also a Hebrew diminutive for Katherine meaning “pure.” It has been recorded as an American girl’s name since 2007, never more than a handful a year.
22. Kataoka – Japanese name meaning “hill on the side”. It originated with the Minamoto clan. It stays outside the first-name figures SSA tracks.
23. Kavalioŭ – Belarussian occupational name for a blacksmith.
24. Kawa – Polish nickname for a “jackdaw” bird. In Sanskrit, the same sound means “crow”. U.S. first-name records don’t carry a count for it.
25. Kawabata – Japanese name meaning “river bank”; traced to the Saionji clan.
26. Kawasaki – Well-known Japanese surname. It means “river cape”. In the records checked here, it holds on as a surname rather than a first name.
27. Kearney – Anglo variant of the Gaelic Ó’Catharnaigh, meaning “warlike.” It served briefly as a U.S. girl’s name in the 1990s and 2000s before dropping out of the data.
28. Keawe – Hawaiian name meaning “southern cross” or “the bearer.” Ten boys were given Keawe in 2025, a slow climb since it first charted in 1994.
29. Keen – Linked to the Irish given name Cian (ancient) or Old English (brave). Keen has surfaced as a first name since 1998 without ever catching on.
30. Keenan – Irish name meaning “ancient” or “distant”. Keenan stands on its own as a boy’s name, ranked #1,307 in 2025.
31. Kekoa – Hawaiian name meaning “the warrior” or “the Koa tree.” Kekoa holds steady in the U.S. too, with 61 boys given it in 2025.
32. Kelekolio – Polynesian surname; a variation of Gregory meaning “watchful.”
33. Kellogg – English occupational nickname for a “pig-slaughterer.” U.S. baby-name records hold a single year for it as a first name, 1927.
34. Kendrick – Welsh name meaning “greatest champion”; also implies “king”. It is well established on birth certificates, ranking #535 for American boys in 2025.
35. Kenyon – Derived from the Gaelic Mac Coinín, meaning “son of the wolf.” First-name use has fallen by about two thirds on the previous decade, to #3,707 in 2025.
36. Kessler – German-Jewish occupational name for a “coppersmith” or “kettle maker”. Kessler is picking up as a first name, reaching #3,616 in 2025.
37. Kido – Japanese name meaning “wooden door”; found mainly in western Japan.
38. Kijek – Polish nickname. It means “little stick”. It remains unlisted among U.S. first-name counts.
39. Kikelomo – African-Swahili name meaning “a child whom everyone loves pampering.”
40. Kikuchi – Japanese name. It means “chrysanthemum pond”. It’s nowhere to be found in U.S. Social Security’s baby-name file.
41. Kilgore – Anglo form of the Gaelic name meaning “son of the short lad.”
42. Kilkenny – Gaelic name meaning “son of the servant of St. Cainneach.”
43. Kimball – Welsh name meaning “war chief”; also means “leader of warriors”. Its best first-name showing came in 1954 at #911.
44. Kimbrough – Old English name meaning “royal fortress.”
45. Kincaid – Scottish habitational name meaning “head of the battle”. Twenty-two American boys were named Kincaid in 2025.
46. Kindall – Describes someone living in the “Kent River valley.” It had a modest run as a girl’s name around 2000 and has since faded.
47. Kinsella – Gaelic name. It means “proud” or “descendant of Cinnsealach”. U.S. birth data has nothing recorded for it as a first name.
48. Kinsey – Old English name meaning “royal victory.” Kinsey peaked as an American girl’s name in 1998 at #835 and now sits at #3,086.
49. Kirkland – Habitational name for someone living on church land. Its high point as a first name was 1997, at #1,046.
50. Kirkpatrick – Scottish surname for land near a church of Saint Patrick. It has rarely served as a first name, last recorded in 2005.
51. Kitchen – Old English occupational name. It named someone running a kitchen. It remains off the U.S. first-name map SSA publishes.
52. Kladivo – Czech occupational surname for a blacksmith, straight from the word for hammer.
53. Klíma – Czech nickname. It’s based on the given name Kliment (Clement). U.S. Social Security’s first-name file skips right over it.
54. Klingenberg – German and Scandinavian habitational name.
55. Knežević – Serbo-Croatian patronymic name. It means “son of the headman”. U.S. Social Security has yet to record it as a first name.
56. Knott – Middle English name for a family living beside a small hill.
57. Knowles – Old English name. It means “at the knoll,” or summit. It stays under SSA’s reporting threshold as a first name.
58. Knutson – Scandinavian name meaning “son of Knut.”
59. Koehler – German occupational name. It denotes a “charcoal burner”. Here it functions as a surname, not a documented first name.
60. Koenig – German nickname for a servant of the king.
61. Kokot – Slavic surname. It means rooster. U.S. baby-name trackers have no entry for it.
62. Kolář – Czech and Slovak occupational surname for a “wheelwright.”
63. Kolbeck – Old Norse name. It means cold stream. U.S. first-name data has yet to catch up with it.
64. Kolsrud – Norwegian habitational name meaning “Kolstad’s farm.”
65. Koon – American spelling of the German Kuhn, meaning “bold.” The 1920s are the only decade it appears in U.S. baby-name data.
66. Kopecký – Polish and Czech name. It described someone living by a hill. It hasn’t been counted as a U.S. first name by SSA.
67. Korošec – Slovenian name for someone from Koroška.
68. Kostelecký – Czech surname. It marks someone from Kostelec. No U.S. first-name record turns up for it in SSA’s file.
69. Kovačič – Serbo-Croatian occupational name for a “smith.”
70. Kowalski – Polish occupational name. It denotes a blacksmith. SSA hasn’t logged any U.S. births under it as a first name.
71. Kozioł – Polish nickname for a goatherd; means “billy goat.”
72. Kozlov – Russian surname. It means “goat”.
73. Kozłowski – Habitational name for someone from Kozlow; also means “he-goat.”
74. Kraft – German name meaning “strength” or “power”. It’s also used as a nickname for a strong man. U.S. Social Security shows no published count for it as a first name.
75. Krajnc – Popular Slovenian surname for someone from Carniola.
76. Krakowski – Polish-Jewish surname. It marks someone from Kraków. The records checked show it living on as a surname, not a first name.
77. Krog – German occupational name for a tavern keeper.
78. Krum – German nickname. It means “crooked”. It hasn’t surfaced in U.S. Social Security’s first-name figures.
79. Kruse – German and Danish nickname for someone with curly hair. Kruse has been used as a first name since 2008, in single digits most years.
80. Kubo – Japanese name meaning “sunken ground” or “long-time preserve.” One year, 2017, is the whole of its U.S. first-name record.
81. Kulkarni – Indian surname meaning “family archivist.”
82. Kuznetsov – Russian occupational name for a blacksmith. It’s built on the word kuznets. No U.S. first-name entry for it shows up in SSA’s records.
83. Kvalheim – Old Norse name meaning “whale farmstead.”
84. Kwon – Korean name meaning “authority”; from the Andong Kwŏn clan. It reached #4,972 as an American boy’s name in 1974 and is rare on birth certificates today.
85. Kyle – Gaelic name meaning “narrow” or “strait.” Kyle was a U.S. top 20 boy’s name in 1990 and still went to 594 boys in 2025.

87 Rare Surnames Starting With K

Dig deeper and the letter K gets genuinely scarce. Several of these barely register outside their home region.

1. Kaʻanāʻanā – Hawaiian name. It means “the black magic”. It hasn’t shown up in the first-name counts SSA releases.
2. Kaart – Rare surname of unknown origin used in Estonia.
3. Kachen – Old German occupational name. It named a cook. It hasn’t entered U.S. Social Security’s first-name tally.
4. Kacprzak – Polish patronymic surname meaning “son of Kasper.”
5. Kadaffi – Arabic name meaning “God’s gift”. It’s also spelled Gaddafi. It sits outside the first names SSA tracks in the U.S.
6. Kadam – Maharashtra surname dating back to the Kadamba dynasty.
7. Kadir – Arabic name meaning “capable” or “competent.” Twenty-eight boys were named Kadir in the U.S. in 2025, more than double the previous decade’s pace.
8. Kaeb – Middle German occupational name. It named a butcher of calves. No published SSA count exists for it as a U.S. first name.
9. Kaeswurm – German surname meaning “cheese worm.”
10. Kagia – Kenyan surname. It describes a tricky or cunning person. It hasn’t been picked up in U.S. first-name data.
11. Kahlke – Old German nickname for a bald man.
12. Kaikko – Derived from the Greek name Aikaterīnē. It means “pure”. It shows up here only as a surname, not as a first name.
13. Kailasam – Indian boy’s name and surname inspired by Mt. Kailash.
14. Kairo – Egyptian name meaning “victorious one.” Kairo is the fastest riser on this list as a U.S. baby name, reaching its best rank yet, #226, in 2025.
15. Kaita – Japanese name meaning “ocean,” “sea,” or “rice field.”
16. Kajdan – Jewish acronym. It stands for the phrase “priests are the messengers of the merciful”. It doesn’t show up in U.S. Social Security’s first-name figures.
17. Kakar – Sanskrit title meaning “one who holds fire in its hands.”
18. Kakum – Indian surname. It means “when many people gather to see a particular thing”. It hasn’t been logged in U.S. Social Security’s first-name data.
19. Kalaç – Montenegrin surname of Turkish origin meaning “archer.”
20. Kalandadze – Well-known Georgian surname. It’s borne by poet Ana Kalandadze. No U.S. Social Security first-name figure exists for it.
21. Kalandar – Arabic title applied to certain Sufi mystics.
22. Kaldeman – Dutch habitational name. It named someone living near a cellar. SSA’s data shows no U.S. first-name count for it.
23. Kaleidos – Greek name meaning beautiful kind.
24. Kaliher – Variation of the Gaelic O’Ceileachair. It means “descendant of Ceileachair”. It’s absent from SSA’s published first-name counts.
25. Kalinaukas – Lithuanian equivalent to the Polish name Kalinowski.
26. Kalinovskaja – Belarusian surname. It’s a version of the Polish Kalinowski. It hasn’t made it into U.S. Social Security’s baby-name file.
27. Kalkman – Dutch occupational name for a “lime man.”
28. Kalla – Indian Brahmin surname with an unknown meaning; also used in Europe. Fourteen American girls were given Kalla in 2025.
29. Kallax – Finnish name. It means “fish bay”. No U.S. first-name entry exists for it in the public data.
30. Kallifatides – Greek-Swedish name of unknown meaning.
31. Kalliope – Greek name meaning “beautiful voice”; from the muse of poetry. Kalliope hit its best rank yet as a U.S. girl’s name in 2025 at #1,787.
32. Kalma – Girl’s name and surname. It’s inspired by the Finnish goddess of death. In the sources checked, it remains strictly a surname.
33. Kalman – Hungarian name meaning “remainder”; used to protect babies from spirits. It has been in U.S. baby-name data since 1912 and ranked #4,088 in 2025.
34. Kalmus – Estonian occupational surname for herbalists.
35. Kama – Turkish nickname meaning “wedge” or “dagger”. Its strongest year as an American girl’s name was 1970, at #2,097.
36. Kamalam – Sanskrit name meaning “pale pink” or “lotus.”
37. Kamaluddin – Arabic name. It means “perfection of the religion.”
38. Kambakhsh – Persian surname meaning “bringing happiness.”
39. Kamdar – Indian and Pakistani occupational surname. It denotes a “government servant.”
40. Kamerling – South German nickname for a “weak’ person.
41. Kamis – Hindi and Russian surname. It’s popular in Sudan.
42. Kammenga – Dutch last name meaning “someone from Camm.”
43. Kamps – German name. It described someone living near an enclosed field.
44. Kampusch – Surname using the root “kamp” (serf).
45. Kana – Czech nickname meaning “buzzard.”
46. Kandola – Indian-Punjab-Sikh family name of a Jat clan.
47. Kanellas – Greek nickname. It means “cinnamon.”
48. Kanen – Habitational name for someone “from Kaaden” in Germany.
49. Kappas – Shortened Greek surname. It means “large.”
50. Kapper – Dutch occupational name for a “hairdresser.”
51. Kapuran – Corsican surname. It’s linked to Capua in Campania.
52. Karamazovov – Literary name meaning “black stain.”
53. Karar – Hindi surname. It means “peaceful” or “tranquil.”
54. Karg – German nickname for a “clever” or “crafty” person.
55. Karimi – Arabic surname. It means “descendant of Karim.”
56. Karle – German variation of Karl, meaning “free man.”
57. Karlin – Belarussian surname. It’s a form of the Latin Carolus (Charles).
58. Karon – Unique version of the Greek name Katarina, meaning “pure.”
59. Kartal – Turkish boy’s name and surname. It means “eagle.”
60. Karthikeyan – Sanskrit name for the Tamil god of war.
61. Kartodikromo – Indonesian surname. Its origin hasn’t been traced by name researchers.
62. Karvonen – Finnish nickname for a hairy man; from “fur.”
63. Kasabian – Armenian name. It denotes a “butcher.”
64. Kasakula – African-Zambian surname meaning “elder of all.”
65. Kascade – Rare spelling. It likely relates to a “cascade” of water.
66. Kasem – Variant of Arabic Qadim, meaning “happiness.”
67. Kashia – Diminutive of Katarzyna. That’s the Polish form of Katherine.
68. Kasparow – Russian patronymic form of Kasper.
69. Kavalier – French surname. It means “horseman” or “knight.”
70. Kaya – Turkish surname meaning “rock.”
71. Kazi – Arabic name meaning “judge”. It’s also a Celtic female name meaning “respect.”
72. Kealoha – Hawaiian name meaning “the love.”
73. Keenstone – English surname. It’s geographical in origin, tied to a place name.
74. Keperra – Australian surname from the Yuggera word for “young man.”
75. Kilfoyle – Gaelic name meaning “the follower of St. Paul.”
76. Kilgallon – Gaelic name. It means “son of the servant of Saint Caillín.”
77. Kilic – Turkish nickname meaning sword.
78. Kismet – Arabic name meaning fate. It’s the portion life deals you.
79. Kithara – Greek name taken from an ancient stringed instrument.
80. Koc – Chinese surname. It means “outer city wall.”
81. Koenigsberg – German habitational name meaning “king’s mountain.”
82. Koller – German occupational name. It denotes an armorer.
83. Kose – Turkish nickname for a beardless man.
84. Kriebel – German nickname. It means “to itch” or “tickle.”
85. Küçük – Turkish and Jewish surname meaning “little.”
86. Kuster – Germanic occupational name for a sexton. That’s the keeper and guard of a church.
87. Kwiatkowski – Polish habitational name from villages called Kwiatkow or Kwiatkowo, built on kwiatek, meaning flower.

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