Kayan
A feminine name of Caucasian origin meaning "blue bird".
Name Census estimates that about 605 living Americans carry the first name Kayan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Kayan today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayan births was 2022 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kayan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
605
~ 1 in 566,536 Americans
Peak year
2022
76 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,067
Tracked since 2002
Census
Kayan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 644 people with the first name Kayan, which placed it at #17,227 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,227
National first-name rank
People counted
644
644 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
35.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.9%. The next largest groups are Black (29.0%) and White (23.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kayan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kayan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander35.9% · 231
- Black or African American29.0% · 187
- White23.4% · 151
- Two or more races7.3% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Kayan
Kayan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 609 total registrations, 381 (62.6%) were male and 228 (37.4%) were female.
Kayan as a male name
- Ranked #3,067 in 2024
- 40 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (40 births)
Kayan as a female name
- Ranked #4,062 in 2024
- 36 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (47 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kayan on both sides of the split. Of the 647 people counted with this name, 291 were male (45.0%) and 356 were female (55.0%).
Popularity
Kayan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayan from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 317 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kayan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kayans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Kayan, while Texas, New Jersey, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayan
The name Kayan has its origins in the Malay language, spoken primarily in Malaysia, Indonesia, and parts of Thailand. It is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "Kāyā," meaning "body" or "physical form." The name has been in use for centuries, particularly among the indigenous communities of the Malay Archipelago.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, the word "Kāyā" is often used to symbolize the physical vessel that houses the soul or the spiritual essence of a being. This concept resonated deeply with the belief systems of the Malay cultures, which emphasized the interconnectedness of the physical and spiritual realms.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kayan can be found in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals), a literary work dating back to the 16th century. This historical text chronicles the rise of the Malacca Sultanate and mentions individuals bearing the name Kayan, although their specific roles or identities are not clearly defined.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kayan. One such individual was Kayan Che' Saman, a renowned Malay warrior and chieftain who lived in the late 18th century. He played a pivotal role in defending the Kedah Sultanate against the Siamese invasions, and his bravery has been celebrated in various Malay folk tales and oral traditions.
Another notable Kayan was Kayan Indera Putera, a revered Malay poet and scholar who lived in the 19th century. His works, which included pantuns (a traditional Malay poetic form) and syairs (narrative poems), were highly influential in preserving and promoting the Malay literary heritage.
In the realm of Malay arts and culture, Kayan Anak Mustapha was a prominent figure in the 20th century. He was a renowned silat (traditional Malay martial arts) practitioner and teacher, and his contributions played a significant role in preserving and passing down this ancient art form to subsequent generations.
Kayan Dato' Seri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, born in 1963, is a contemporary Malaysian business tycoon and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of several successful companies and has been recognized for his contributions to the country's economic development.
The name Kayan has also been carried by individuals from other cultural backgrounds, such as Kayan Irandoust, an Iranian-American author and poet known for her works exploring themes of identity, displacement, and cultural heritage.
People
Kayan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kayan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 605 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 566,536 US residents.
Is Kayan a common name?
We classify Kayan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 609 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayan was 2022, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayan is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kayan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 644 people with the name Kayan, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,227 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kayan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kayan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kayan on both sides of the split. Of the 647 people counted with this name, 291 were male (45.0%) and 356 were female (55.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kayan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.9%. The next largest groups are Black (29.0%) and White (23.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kayan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kayan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.9% (231 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kayan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayan a male name?
Yes, 62.6% of people registered as Kayan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kayan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kayan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Kayan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.