NameRealm
Kali

Kali: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“the black one”
Origin
Sanskrit
Say it
KAH-lee · 2 syllables
Used for
Girls (97% of all uses)

From Sanskrit Kālī, the name of the Hindu goddess associated with time, power, and destruction of evil. In English usage it is sometimes also used as a variant spelling of Callie, but the Sanskrit name is the standard origin.

Indian namesNames meaning strengthMythological namesInternational names

How popular is Kali?

2024328 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Kali in 20241,091

2024 rank#295 girls

Peak year2019

Total US babies since 188032,455

Kali is rising: use over the last five years is 1.6× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Kali

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Calliemost beautiful · Greek
  • Calimodern short form of California or Callie · American (modern coinage)
  • Kalliebeautiful · Greek
  • Aryanoble; honorable · Sanskrit
  • Alayadwelling, abode · Sanskrit
  • Opalgem; precious stone · Sanskrit
  • Ariyanoble · Sanskrit
  • Vedaknowledge · Sanskrit

Kali questions

What does the name Kali mean?

Kali means "the black one". It comes from Sanskrit. From Sanskrit Kālī, the name of the Hindu goddess associated with time, power, and destruction of evil. In English usage it is sometimes also used as a variant spelling of Callie, but the Sanskrit name is the standard origin.

Is Kali a boy or girl name?

Kali is mainly a girl's name in US records (97% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Kali?

1,091 US babies were named Kali in 2024. Its peak year was 2019.

How do you pronounce Kali?

Kali is usually pronounced KAH-lee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.