706 Kyles travel to Kyle but fail to break world record for most Kyles

From left to right: Kyle, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle and Kyle.

An army of 706 Kyles descended on Kyle, Texas over the weekend, but it wasn’t enough to set a new record for the largest same name gathering.

They flocked from across America to for a ‘hootin’ and hollerin’ festival of Kyles, where all were proud to wear branded white t-shirts declaring: ‘Hi, I’m Kyle.’

Dubbed a ‘Tex-travaganza’, the Kyle Fair – with its binge eating and competitive drinking – was a party enough to ‘knock the stink off a skunk’, according to organisers.

But it was not enough to claim victory.

It’s become something of an annual tradition for the city of 46,000 to host a bid to bag a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sat between the major cities of Austin and San Antonio, and not far from Houston, home to more than 12,000,000 people combined, it stands a decent shot of rallying the troops for victory.

Appealing to Kyles everywhere before this year’s Kyle Fair, events manager Claudia Rocha said: ‘Last year, we were blown away by the amount of Kyles who showed up in honor of their namesake.

‘Nearly 1,500 Kyles answered the call, but we need even more Kyles to break the record in 2024.

‘Kyles, you’re our only hope to bring the Guinness World Record for the largest same-name gathering, first-name-only, to American soil and firmly in the hands of Kyles worldwide.’

But it failed for a fifth time to oust the previous title holder on Saturday.

The largest gathering of people with the same first name ever recorded was in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2017.

Seven years ago, 2,325 people called Ivan flocked to the town of Kupres for music and a mass.

Their world record – nearly matching the town’s population of 2,800 – has remained unbroken since.

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Such a feat is perhaps made easier by Ivan being a far more common name than Kyle.

Kyle is the 416th most common name in the USA, according to the Social Security Administration.

It reached peak popularity in 2020 when 1055 Kyles were born.

Meanwhile Ivan is the 153rd most popular name in the USA, and the 39th most popular in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It wasn’t a completely wasted journey for all those Kyles clad in ‘Hi, I’m Kyle’ t-shirts.

Amid roaring chants of ‘Kyle, Kyle, Kyle’, they also had funfair rides, live bands, a drone show, along with margarita, fajita and ribs competitions.

It’s certainly a fun way to celebrate a coming together of Kyles, enough to leave you ‘plumb worn out from all the hootin’ and hollerin”.

Some 10,000 people attended the event last year, but just 1,490 of them were called Kyle.

In a bid to improve their game next year, one attendee said: ‘We’re all going to contact at least two Kyles and bring them with us.’

There are other variations of Guinness’ ‘largest same name gathering’ record.

People aged form toddlerhood to 80 years of age, and from as far away as Vietnam, travelled to Tokyo, Japan for one such record breaking event in 2022.

A group of 178 people called Hirokazu Tanaka successfully broke the record for the largest gathering of people with same first and last name, BBC reported.

It was their third attempt to claim the title.

The record had not been broken since 164 Martha Stewarts set it in 2005.

Although not a world record breaker, some 433 Nigels were lured to a Worcestershire pub with the promise of a free pint in 2019.

A man from Texas and the local MP Nigel Huddleston were among the attendees celebrating the ‘much maligned’ name.

Organised by landlord of the Fleece Inn, Nigel Smith, after he realised no babies had been named Nigel in 2016, it also raised funds for the British Heart Foundation.

Nigel said: ‘I’ve always felt that the name’s much maligned – people would say to me when I was young ‘Nigel, that’s got to be a joke name hasn’t it?’

‘So it was really just to get a few Nigels together in the same room, to share Nigel stories and celebrate our Nigelness.’

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