Kerrin
Variant spelling of Kieran, an Irish name meaning "little dark one".
Name Census estimates that about 921 living Americans carry the first name Kerrin. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Kerrin today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kerrin births was 1992 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kerrin. 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.
People living today
921
~ 1 in 372,155 Americans
Peak year
1992
43 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1985 SSA rank
#7,096
Tracked since 1950
Gender
Gender distribution for Kerrin
Out of the 1,014 babies given the name Kerrin since 1880, 99.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kerrin as a male name
- Ranked #7,096 in 1985
- 5 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1967 (5 births)
Kerrin as a female name
- Ranked #16,251 in 2009
- 6 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1992 (43 births)
Popularity
Kerrin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kerrin from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 236 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Kerrin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kerrin 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 Kerrin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kerrins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Kerrin, while California, Rhode Island, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kerrin
The name Kerrin is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Ciarán, which has its origins in the ancient Celtic language. It is derived from the word "ciar," meaning "black" or "dark-featured." The name was likely originally a descriptive nickname referring to a person's physical appearance.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Ciarán was an Irish saint who lived in the 6th century AD. St. Ciarán of Clonmacnoise was a renowned monastic scholar and founder of the famous Clonmacnoise monastery in County Offaly, Ireland. He is considered one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and is venerated in the Catholic Church.
In the 9th century, another notable figure named Ciarán was Ciarán of Belach Dúin, an Irish abbot and scholar who wrote several important works on canon law and monastic rules. His writings were influential in the development of the Céli Dé religious reform movement.
During the Middle Ages, the name Ciarán was particularly popular among the Irish nobility and ruling classes. One notable example is Ciarán Ua Cuinn, a 12th-century king of Munster, a historic province in southern Ireland.
As the name spread beyond Ireland, it underwent various spelling variations, including Kerrin, Kerren, and Kerran. In the late 16th century, a Scottish nobleman named Kerrin Muir was recorded as a prominent landowner in the county of Ayrshire.
In more recent times, one of the most famous bearers of the name Kerrin was Kerrin Michael Rediker, an American historian and professor known for his influential works on maritime history and the Atlantic slave trade. He was born in 1951 and has authored several critically acclaimed books, including "The Slave Ship: A Human History" and "Villains of All Nations."
Other notable people named Kerrin include Kerrin Sheldon, an Australian cricketer who played domestic cricket for South Australia in the 1980s and 1990s, and Kerrin Binnie, a Canadian actress known for her roles in television series like "Heartland" and "When Calls the Heart."
People
Kerrin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kerrin 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
Kerrin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kerrin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 921 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kerrin 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 372,155 US residents.
Is Kerrin a common name?
We classify Kerrin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,014 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kerrin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kerrin was 1992, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kerrin is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kerrin a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Kerrin 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.
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.