Kaiser

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Kaiser is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname41K records spelled Kaiser6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Argentina, Spain

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Kaisër, Káiser, Kaïser, Kaisêr

• Polish surname13K records spelled Kaiser11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, Croatia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Каисер, Кайсер, Káiser

• a separate surname12K records spelled Kaiser4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Ecuador

  Also written Kaïser, Káiser

• Hindi surname8.4K records spelled Kaiser3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Switzerland, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Káiser

• Bangla given name3.2K records spelled Kaiser20 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Bangladesh, India, United States, Syria

  Languages: Bangla, English, Arabic

  Also written Kaysar, Qaisar, কায়সার, কাযসার, Kãysår

76 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Kaiser is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, German surname from the title 'Kaiser' 'emperor' (status/personal-characteristic name); bearer count in page: 35,768 tokens.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 5: Familiennamen nach Beruf und persönlichen Merkmalen

• In German, Personal- characteristic/status surname from 'emperor'; variants and patronymic genitives widespread.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 5: Familiennamen nach Beruf und persönlichen Merkmalen

• In German, occupational or status name from 'emperor'

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In German, ornamental name from German Kaiser ‘emperor’, adopted (like Graf, Herzog, etc.) because of its aristocratic connotations.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In German, from Arabic qaysar ‘emperor’, which, like 1, is of Latin origin, from the imperial title in the Roman Empire.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 63 years between 1915–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Friedrich Kaiserb. 1814DEAustrian dramatist (1814-1874)
• Georg Kaiserb. 1878DEGerman dramatist (1878-1945)
• Henry John Kaiserb. 1882USAmerican industrialist (1882–1967)
• Jakob Kaiserb. 1888DEGerman politician (1888-1961)
• Ray Eamesb. 1912USnot in their usual nameAmerican artist, designer, and filmmaker (1912–1988)
• Willy Kaiserb. 1912DEboxer (1912–1986)
• George Kaiserb. 1942USAmerican businessman
• Oldřich Kaiserb. 1955CZCzech actor
• Dominik Kaiserb. 1988DEGerman footballer
• Ludwig Kaiserb. 1990DEGerman professional wrestler (born 1990)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 383 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Kaiser?

We estimate roughly 45 thousand people bear Kaiser (counting its spellings and scripts) across 15 countries in our records.

In which country does Kaiser have the most bearers?

Kaiser is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled kaiser.

How common is Kaiser compared with other names?

In Germany, Kaiser is the 41st most common surname of 734,811 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Kaiser mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) ‘servant at the court of an emperor’, or a nickname for someone imperious; (ii) a Jewish surname based on German Kaiser.