Kearney
An Irish name meaning "place of the hides and skins."
Name Census estimates that about 158 living Americans carry the first name Kearney. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Kearney today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kearney births was 2007 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kearney. 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 Kearney with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
158
~ 1 in 2,169,331 Americans
Peak year
2007
13 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2007 SSA rank
#11,685
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kearney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 343 people with the first name Kearney, which placed it at #26,904 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
#26,904
National first-name rank
People counted
343
343 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kearney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kearney is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.2%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Kearney 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 Kearney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.3% · 255
- Black or African American15.2% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 12
- Two or more races2.9% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Kearney
Kearney leans heavily male at 84.1% of total registrations, but 52 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kearney as a male name
- Ranked #11,685 in 2007
- 6 male births in 2007
- Peak: 1924 (10 births)
Kearney as a female name
- Ranked #18,217 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1994 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kearney on both sides of the split. Of the 341 people counted with this name, 198 were male (58.1%) and 143 were female (41.9%).
Popularity
Kearney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kearney from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kearney 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 Kearney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kearney
The name Kearney has its origins in the Irish Gaelic language, believed to have emerged around the 4th century AD. It is derived from the words "Ó Cearnaigh," which translates to "descendant of Cearnaigh." Cearnaigh itself is a personal name derived from the Irish word "carn," meaning "cairn" or "small heap of stones."
In ancient Irish tradition, cairns were often used to mark burial sites or as boundary markers, suggesting that the name Kearney may have originally been associated with someone who lived near or maintained these stone structures. The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 10th century AD in various Irish annals and records.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Kearney was Giolla na Naomh Ó Cearnaigh, a 12th century Irish poet and scholar renowned for his mastery of the Irish language and poetry. He was a prominent figure in the literary circles of medieval Ireland and is believed to have been a member of the Uí Cearnaigh family, a powerful clan in County Louth.
In the 16th century, the name Kearney gained prominence through the exploits of Sir Nicholas Kearney (1508-1580), an Irish soldier and landowner who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. He played a significant role in the English colonization efforts and was granted extensive lands in County Kildare for his services.
Another notable figure was Barnaby Kearney (1603-1668), an Irish Catholic priest and theologian who was a leading figure in the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s. He served as a chaplain in the Confederate armies and was later appointed Bishop of Cashel and Emly.
In the 18th century, Michael Kearney (1732-1814) was an Irish-born naval officer who served in the British Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War. He gained recognition for his courage and leadership, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral of the Blue.
During the 19th century, Francis Kearney (1785-1858) was an Irish-American soldier and early settler in the Oregon Territory. He is credited with being one of the first non-Native Americans to explore and document the region, paving the way for future settlers and contributing to the westward expansion of the United States.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Kearney, which has its roots in the rich cultural traditions and history of Ireland.
People
Kearney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kearney 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
Kearney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kearney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 158 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kearney 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 2,169,331 US residents.
Is Kearney a common name?
We classify Kearney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 327 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kearney most popular?
The single biggest year for Kearney was 2007, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kearney is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kearney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 343 people with the name Kearney, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,904 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 Kearney 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 Kearney?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kearney on both sides of the split. Of the 341 people counted with this name, 198 were male (58.1%) and 143 were female (41.9%). 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 Kearney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kearney is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.2%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Kearney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kearney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (255 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 Kearney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kearney a male name?
Yes, 84.1% of people registered as Kearney 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 Kearney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kearney 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 Kearney 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 Americans are named Kearney?
See how many Americans are named Kearney on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.