Kiefer
A masculine name of German origin meaning "pine tree".
Name Census estimates that about 1,905 living Americans carry the first name Kiefer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kiefer today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kiefer births was 1991 (204 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kiefer. 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 Kiefer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 179,924 Americans
Peak year
1991
204 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,302
Tracked since 1988
Census
Kiefer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,819 people with the first name Kiefer, which placed it at #8,083 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
#8,083
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,819 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kiefer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiefer is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Kiefer 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 Kiefer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 1,391
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 154
- Two or more races5.4% · 99
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 83
- Black or African American3.5% · 63
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 29
Popularity
Kiefer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kiefer from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 969 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kiefer 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 Kiefer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kiefers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Kiefer, while Virginia, South Carolina, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kiefer
The given name Kiefer has its origins in the German language, where it is derived from the word "Kiefer," meaning "pine tree" or "pine cone." This name has been in use since the Middle Ages, with some of the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 13th century in various regions of what is now modern-day Germany.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Kiefer was a German knight named Kiefer von Gundelfingen, who lived in the late 13th century and fought in the Crusades. Records also show a Kiefer von Dortmund, a merchant and landowner from the city of Dortmund in the 14th century.
In the realm of religion, there are no significant historical figures or mentions of the name Kiefer in ancient texts or scriptures. However, the name's connection to nature and the pine tree may have held symbolic significance in pagan beliefs and folklore of the Germanic regions.
As the use of surnames became more widespread in Europe, Kiefer was adopted as a surname by various families, particularly in areas where pine trees were abundant or where forestry and timber industries thrived. Some notable historical figures with the first name Kiefer include:
1. Kiefer Sutherland (born 1966), a British-Canadian actor known for his roles in films like "Stand by Me" and the TV series "24."
2. Kiefer Douse (born 1986), a Jamaican sprinter who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.
3. Kiefer Ravena (born 1994), a Filipino professional basketball player who has represented the Philippines in international competitions.
4. Kiefer Nübel (born 1996), a German professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Bayern Munich.
5. Kiefer Crosbie (born 1995), an Australian actor known for his role in the TV series "The Kettering Incident."
While the name Kiefer has seen widespread use throughout history, particularly in German-speaking regions, its popularity has also extended to other cultures and countries over time, with varying spellings and adaptations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kiefer
People
Kiefer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kiefer 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
Kiefer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kiefer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,905 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kiefer 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 179,924 US residents.
Is Kiefer a common name?
We classify Kiefer as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,944 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kiefer most popular?
The single biggest year for Kiefer was 1991, when 204 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kiefer is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kiefer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,819 people with the name Kiefer, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,083 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 Kiefer 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 Kiefer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kiefer leans strongly male. 1,790 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 26 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Kiefer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiefer is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Kiefer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kiefer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (1,391 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 Kiefer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kiefer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kiefer 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 Kiefer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kiefer 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 Kiefer 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 have Kiefer as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.