Kellian
Old German feminine name derived from "ketil" meaning "cauldron" or "helmet".
Name Census estimates that about 49 living Americans carry the first name Kellian. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Kellian today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kellian births was 2021 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kellian. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kellian. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
49
~ 1 in 6,994,986 Americans
Peak year
2021
11 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,770
Tracked since 1977
Census
Kellian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143 people with the first name Kellian, which placed it at #46,519 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
#46,519
National first-name rank
People counted
143
143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kellian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kellian is White at 59.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Kellian 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 Kellian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.4% · 85
- Black or African American23.1% · 33
- Two or more races7.7% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Kellian
Kellian is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 50 total registrations, 35 (70.0%) were male and 15 (30.0%) were female.
Kellian as a male name
- Ranked #10,379 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (11 births)
Kellian as a female name
- Ranked #9,770 in 1988
- 7 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1977 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kellian on both sides of the split. Of the 137 people counted with this name, 45 were male (32.8%) and 92 were female (67.2%).
Popularity
Kellian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kellian from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 23 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
Kellian 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 Kellian 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 Kellian
The given name Kellian is believed to have its origins in ancient Celtic cultures, particularly among the Britons and Gaels. It is derived from the Proto-Celtic root "kel-" or "cal-," which is associated with concepts such as war, battle, or conflict. This root can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European "*kel-" meaning "to strike" or "to beat."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Kellian can be found in medieval Welsh and Irish texts, where it was often used as a masculine name. In these early records, the name was spelled in various ways, including Celian, Kelian, and Cailean, reflecting the linguistic variations among the Celtic languages.
One of the earliest notable figures bearing the name Kellian was Kellian of Duleek, an Irish monk and scholar who lived in the 5th century CE. He was renowned for his contributions to the preservation and study of ancient Irish literature and is considered a significant figure in the development of early Irish Christianity.
Another historical figure named Kellian was Kellian ap Rhodri, a Welsh prince who lived in the 9th century CE. He was a member of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd and played a significant role in the political and military affairs of the region during his lifetime.
In the 12th century, a Gaelic nobleman named Kellian Ó Conchobhair was a prominent figure in the province of Connacht, Ireland. He was a member of the influential Ó Conchobhair dynasty and served as a chieftain and military leader during a period of intense conflict and power struggles among the various Irish kingdoms.
Moving forward in history, one of the most notable figures with the name Kellian was Kellian Gillespie, a Scottish Covenanter who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was a prominent Presbyterian minister and played a significant role in the religious and political struggles between the Scottish Presbyterian Church and the English monarchy during the reigns of James VI and Charles I.
In more recent times, Kellian Lowe was an English politician and military officer who served in the British Army during the 18th century. He was a Member of Parliament for various constituencies and held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, participating in several military campaigns during his career.
While the name Kellian has its roots in ancient Celtic cultures, it has since been adopted and used across various regions and languages. Throughout history, individuals bearing this name have left their mark in various fields, from religion and scholarship to politics and warfare, reflecting the diverse backgrounds and experiences associated with this distinctive name.
People
Kellian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kellian 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
Kellian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kellian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kellian 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 6,994,986 US residents.
Is Kellian a common name?
We classify Kellian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kellian most popular?
The single biggest year for Kellian was 2021, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kellian is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kellian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143 people with the name Kellian, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,519 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 Kellian 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 Kellian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kellian on both sides of the split. Of the 137 people counted with this name, 45 were male (32.8%) and 92 were female (67.2%). 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 Kellian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kellian is White at 59.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). 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 Kellian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kellian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.4% (85 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 Kellian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kellian a male name?
Yes, 70.0% of people registered as Kellian 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 Kellian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kellian 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 Kellian 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 Kellian?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.