KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — The City of Kyle, Texas, didn’t take home a world record Sunday evening, but it did hang out with 1,800 of its same-named friends.
City leaders hosted the “Gathering of the Kyles” world record attempt Sunday afternoon at the Kyle Fair A Tex-Travaganza. Anyone with the name “Kyle” — spelled that exact way — was asked to attend Sunday afternoon as part of a vie at hosting the largest same-name gathering.
The current Guinness World Record is nearly six years old, set by Kupreski Kosci in Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 30, 2017. That record saw 2,325 Ivans participate to seal the deal.
The city had to have 2,326 or more Kyles attend to take home the crown. Shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday, event organizers confirmed approximately 1,800 participants had shown up.
While some participants were from the Austin area or the Lone Star State, others had traveled as far as Hawaii, Canada and Oregon to attempt the feat.
Kyle Peters made the multi-day drive in from Los Angeles with his trusty pup in tow. He heard about the world record attempt after friends sent him social media posts about it.
Sunday marked his first full day in Kyle, and he said the city made a great first impression.
“It’s a really charming little town,” he said.
While some might be overwhelmed by that many Kyles in one place — How do you know when someone is talking to you? — he did say it wasn’t his first rodeo with the same name confusion.
“I grew up with seven other Kyles,” he said. “So I do have some experience with this. I didn’t really get to go by my first name a lot as a kid.”
For others, like Kyle Sasaki from Honolulu, this was the first time being in a sea of like-named people.
“People will just yell out ‘Kyle,’ and I’ll just automatically turn,” he said, laughing. “Of course, everyone’s named Kyle, so it’s really funny. So yeah, it’s just great to see just, I don’t know, the diversity of Kyles.”
Sunday’s event marks the city’s fourth attempt at breaking the record, per a city release.
The Kyle Fair A Tex-Travaganza began Friday and ran through Sunday evening, with festivities including live music, carnival rides and concessions.
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