Kerry
The given name of Irish origin meaning "dark-haired" or "dark one".
Name Census estimates that about 82,713 living Americans carry the first name Kerry. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Kerry today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kerry births was 1960 (3,127 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kerry. 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
- • Kerry sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Kerry have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
83K
~ 1 in 4,144 Americans
Peak year
1960
3,127 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,683
Tracked since 1920
Gender
Gender distribution for Kerry
Kerry is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 98,563 total registrations, 49,911 (50.6%) were male and 48,652 (49.4%) were female.
Kerry as a male name
- Ranked #2,683 in 2024
- 49 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (2,176 births)
Kerry as a female name
- Ranked #11,611 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (2,206 births)
Popularity
Kerry: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kerry from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 27,506 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
Kerry 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 Kerry during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kerrys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Kerry, while Delaware, Alaska, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,805 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kerry
Kerry is an anglicized version of the Irish Gaelic name Ciarraí, which originated in County Kerry, Ireland. The name Ciarraí comes from the Irish Gaelic word 'ciar' meaning black or dark. It is believed to have been derived from the dark soil found in the region of County Kerry.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kerry dates back to the 6th century AD, when it was mentioned in the Annals of Inisfallen, an Irish chronicle. The name was used to refer to the people and territory of County Kerry, located in the southwestern part of Ireland.
In ancient Irish mythology, Kerry is associated with the legendary figure of Ciar, who was said to be the founder of the Ciarraige, a Gaelic Irish dynasty that ruled parts of County Kerry in the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kerry was Kery O'Daly (c. 1180 – c. 1238), an Irish poet and historian from County Kerry. He is known for his work, the "Poem on the Tribes of Ireland," which is a valuable source of information on the genealogies and histories of Irish clans.
In the 16th century, Kerry O'Daly (c. 1510 – c. 1590) was a notable Irish poet and scholar from County Kerry. He was a member of the O'Daly clan, a renowned family of poets and historians.
Another notable figure with the name Kerry was Kerry Ingram (born 1999), an English actress best known for her role as Shireen Baratheon in the HBO series "Game of Thrones."
Kerry Conran (born 1971) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his debut film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004), a critically acclaimed science fiction adventure film.
Kerry Washington (born 1977) is an American actress, producer, and director. She is known for her roles in films such as "Ray" (2004) and "Django Unchained" (2012), as well as the television series "Scandal" (2012-2018), for which she received several accolades, including two Primetime Emmy nominations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kerry
People
Kerry + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kerry 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
Kerry: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kerry?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 82,713 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kerry 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 4,144 US residents.
Is Kerry a common name?
We classify Kerry as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 98,563 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kerry most popular?
The single biggest year for Kerry was 1960, when 3,127 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kerry is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kerry a male name?
Yes, 50.6% of people registered as Kerry 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.
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.