Kian
Masculine name of Persian origin meaning "Of or belonging to Kian" or "King of Heaven".
Name Census estimates that about 12,630 living Americans carry the first name Kian. It sits at #416 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Kian today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kian births was 2024 (765 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kian. 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 Kian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kian is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 105 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Kian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 27,138 Americans
Peak year
2024
765 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#416
Tracked since 1970
Census
Kian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,359 people with the first name Kian, which placed it at #2,571 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
#2,571
National first-name rank
People counted
9.4K
9,359 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kian is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.9%). 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 Kian 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 Kian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.6% · 5,207
- Two or more races13.3% · 1,247
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.9% · 1,204
- Hispanic or Latino11.5% · 1,074
- Black or African American6.0% · 558
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 69
Gender
Gender distribution for Kian
Out of the 12,758 babies given the name Kian since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Kian as a male name
- Ranked #416 in 2024
- 765 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (765 births)
Kian as a female name
- Ranked #11,715 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kian leans strongly male. 9,099 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 267 female bearers (2.9%).
Popularity
Kian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kian from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,473 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kian 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 Kian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kian, while New Hampshire, North Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 239 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kian
The name Kian is believed to have originated from the Persian language, with roots tracing back to ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran. It is derived from the Old Persian word "Kayān," which refers to the Kayanian dynasty, a legendary dynasty that ruled over parts of Greater Iran during the mythical age.
The name Kian can be found in various ancient Persian texts and legends, including the epic poem "Shahnameh" (Book of Kings) by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi. In this epic, Kian is mentioned as the name of a character, a prince from the Kayanian dynasty.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kian dates back to the 6th century AD, when a Persian prince named Kian lived during the Sasanian Empire. However, the name likely predates this period, as it is deeply rooted in Persian mythology and folklore.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kian. One of the most famous was Kian Sani (born around 1010 AD), a renowned Persian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the advancement of science during the Islamic Golden Age.
Another notable figure was Kian Khusraw (born around 1050 AD), a Persian prince and military leader who played a crucial role in defending the Seljuk Empire against invading forces.
In the 13th century, Kian Bahadur Khan (born around 1220 AD) was a powerful military commander who served under the Mongol ruler Hulagu Khan and played a pivotal role in the conquest of Persia.
During the 16th century, Kian Ghiyath al-Din (born around 1520 AD) was a prominent Persian calligrapher and poet who left a lasting legacy in the art of Persian calligraphy.
More recently, Kian Tajbakhsh (born in 1962) is an Iranian-American scholar and activist who has been recognized for his work in promoting human rights and democracy in Iran.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Kian, a name that has its roots in ancient Persian culture and mythology.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kian
People
Kian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kian 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
Kian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,630 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kian 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 27,138 US residents.
Is Kian a common name?
We classify Kian as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,758 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kian most popular?
The single biggest year for Kian was 2024, when 765 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kian is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,359 people with the name Kian, or 3.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,571 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 Kian 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 Kian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kian leans strongly male. 9,099 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 267 female bearers (2.9%). 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 Kian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kian is White at 55.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.9%). 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 Kian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.6% (5,207 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 Kian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kian a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Kian 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 Kian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kian 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 Kian 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 share the name Kian?
Want to know how many people have the name Kian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.