Kerin
A feminine diminutive of the Irish name Katharine or Katherine.
Name Census estimates that about 1,375 living Americans carry the first name Kerin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Kerin today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kerin births was 1958 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kerin. 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 Kerin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 249,276 Americans
Peak year
1958
47 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,268
Tracked since 1935
Census
Kerin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,683 people with the first name Kerin, which placed it at #8,592 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
#8,592
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,683 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kerin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kerin is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and Black (6.7%). 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 Kerin 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 Kerin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.0% · 1,128
- Hispanic or Latino21.7% · 365
- Black or African American6.7% · 112
- Two or more races2.4% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Kerin
Kerin leans heavily female at 82.9% of total registrations, but 272 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kerin as a male name
- Ranked #13,268 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (15 births)
Kerin as a female name
- Ranked #17,976 in 2013
- 5 female births in 2013
- Peak: 1981 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kerin leans strongly female. 1,354 people counted with this name were female (80.5%), compared with 329 male bearers (19.5%).
Popularity
Kerin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kerin from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 373 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kerin 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 Kerin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kerins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Massachusetts, New York, California recorded the most babies named Kerin, while Washington, Pennsylvania, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kerin
The name Kerin is of Celtic origin, tracing its roots back to ancient Gaelic and Irish cultures. It is derived from the old Irish word "ciar," meaning "dark" or "black." This likely refers to the color of one's hair or complexion.
In early medieval times, the name was primarily found in areas of present-day Ireland and Scotland, where Celtic languages were widely spoken. Variations of the spelling included Kiarán, Ciaran, and Kieran, reflecting the different dialects and regional spellings of the era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kerin can be found in the life of Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, a sixth-century Irish abbot and monastic founder. He is venerated as one of the "Twelve Apostles of Ireland" and is considered a patron saint of Clonmacnoise, a significant monastic center in medieval Ireland.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Kerin was relatively common among Irish and Scottish families, particularly those with connections to the monastic traditions or the Catholic Church. Notable historical figures with this name include Kerin of Inishmore, an eighth-century Irish monk and scribe, and Kerin O'Byrne, a 14th-century Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Byrne clan.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with Kerin Núnain, an Irish nobleman and landowner who played a role in the Gaelic resistance against English colonization in Ulster. Another notable bearer of the name was Kerin O'Mara, a 17th-century Irish soldier and military leader who fought in the Confederate Wars of the 1640s.
Moving into more recent times, Kerin Buckley (1811-1879) was an Irish-American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the New York State Assembly in the mid-19th century. Kerin Danaher (1913-1988) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, known for her works exploring the lives of ordinary people in rural Ireland.
While the name Kerin has its roots in Celtic cultures, it has since spread to various parts of the world, particularly through Irish and Scottish emigration. However, its historical significance remains deeply intertwined with the rich cultural heritage of Ireland and Scotland.
People
Kerin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kerin 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
Kerin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kerin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kerin 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 249,276 US residents.
Is Kerin a common name?
We classify Kerin as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,590 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kerin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kerin was 1958, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kerin is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kerin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,683 people with the name Kerin, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,592 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 Kerin 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 Kerin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kerin leans strongly female. 1,354 people counted with this name were female (80.5%), compared with 329 male bearers (19.5%). 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 Kerin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kerin is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and Black (6.7%). 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 Kerin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kerin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (1,128 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 Kerin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kerin a female name?
Yes, 82.9% of people registered as Kerin in the SSA data are female. 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 Kerin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kerin 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 Kerin 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 are named Kerin?
Find out how many people share the name Kerin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.