# Kelsey (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/kelsey/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 14,456 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,501 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 21,358 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.4% (13,849 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɛlsi/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English cēol (“ship”) + ieġ.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kelsey in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Kelsey in the United States.

## People named Kelsey

- Fred Kelsey, actor, director, screenwriter (1884-1961)
- Linda Kelsey, American actress

## Similar surnames

Kelso, Keels, Kells, Klose, Kelsay, Kellis, Kelsch, Kowalski, Kellogg, Klug, Klaus, Kyles.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.