Kayla

Kayla rose on a wave of late-80s soap opera fame after a character of the name debuted on Days of Our Lives in 1982, and within a decade it had climbed into the American top ten. Possibly a modern blend of Kay and the -la ending, possibly a reshaping of the Irish Caoilfhionn meaning slender and fair, its origins are as American as its trajectory. Two clean syllables, a K-hit followed by a long open A, a name that feels sunny and self-assured. It has gentled down the charts since, settling into familiar rather than ubiquitous. Kayla still reads bright, friendly, and unmistakably contemporary.