Kidus
An Amharic name meaning "holy", "sacred" or "blessed".
Name Census estimates that about 829 living Americans carry the first name Kidus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kidus today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kidus births was 2014 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kidus. 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 Kidus with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
829
~ 1 in 413,455 Americans
Peak year
2014
55 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,014
Tracked since 1996
Census
Kidus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 919 people with the first name Kidus, which placed it at #13,223 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
#13,223
National first-name rank
People counted
919
919 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kidus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kidus is Black at 97.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.0%) and Hispanic (0.8%). 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 Kidus 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 Kidus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.2% · 893
- White1.0% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 4
- Two or more races0.4% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Kidus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kidus from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 435 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kidus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kidus 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 Kidus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kidus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Virginia, Maryland, California recorded the most babies named Kidus, while Ohio, Nevada, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kidus
The name Kidus has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages, particularly in the Ge'ez language spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is derived from the root word "qddus," which means "holy" or "sacred." The name gained prominence during the early centuries of Christianity in the region.
Kidus is a popular name among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian community, as it carries a deep religious significance. The name can be found in various ancient religious texts and scriptures, including the Ge'ez version of the Bible, where it is used to refer to holy figures and saints.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kidus dates back to the 4th century AD, when a prominent Ethiopian monk and scholar, Kidus Yared, lived. Kidus Yared is renowned for his contributions to the development of the unique Ethiopian liturgical music tradition, known as "Zema."
In the 6th century, Kidus Gabra Manfas Qeddus was a highly respected Ethiopian monk and leader of the monastic community. He played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity in the region and is venerated as a saint in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kidus. One such individual was Kidus Giyorgis (1913-1981), an Ethiopian nobleman and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and played a significant role in shaping the country's foreign policy during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie.
Another prominent figure was Kidus Marcos (1894-1971), an Ethiopian church leader and scholar who served as the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church from 1950 to 1971. He was instrumental in promoting education and social reforms within the church.
Kidus Gebremichael (1903-1959) was an Ethiopian fighter pilot and one of the first Africans to receive formal military aviation training. He played a crucial role in defending Ethiopia during the Italian invasion in 1935-1936 and is considered a national hero.
The name Kidus has also been borne by various saints and religious figures throughout the centuries, further solidifying its association with holiness and spiritual devotion within the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition.
People
Kidus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kidus 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
Kidus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kidus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 829 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kidus 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 413,455 US residents.
Is Kidus a common name?
We classify Kidus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 836 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kidus most popular?
The single biggest year for Kidus was 2014, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kidus is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kidus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 919 people with the name Kidus, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,223 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 Kidus 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 Kidus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kidus appears almost entirely male. Of the 915 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Kidus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kidus is Black at 97.2%. The next largest groups are White (1.0%) and Hispanic (0.8%). 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 Kidus most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kidus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.2% (893 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 Kidus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kidus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kidus 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 Kidus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kidus 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 Kidus 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 called Kidus?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.