Kielan
A masculine name of Irish origin meaning "brilliant, radiant".
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Kielan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kielan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kielan births was 2007 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kielan. 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 Kielan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
2007
11 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,507
Tracked since 1989
Census
Kielan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 148 people with the first name Kielan, which placed it at #45,698 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
#45,698
National first-name rank
People counted
148
148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kielan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kielan is White at 46.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.1%) and Two or More Races (9.5%). 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 Kielan 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 Kielan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.6% · 69
- Black or African American31.1% · 46
- Two or more races9.5% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 4
Popularity
Kielan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kielan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 37 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kielan 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 Kielan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kielan
The name Kielan is a variant of the Irish name Cillian, which is derived from the Gaelic word "cill" meaning "church" or "monastery." It is believed to have originated as a surname among Irish clans during the Middle Ages.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kielan can be traced back to the 7th century, when Saint Kielan of Inishcaltra, an Irish monk and missionary, lived on the island of Inishcaltra in Lough Derg, County Galway, Ireland. He established a monastery there and is venerated as the patron saint of the island.
In the 9th century, Kielan of Disert-Nuadhain was an Irish abbot and scholar who served as the head of the monastic school at Disert-Nuadhain (now Disert, County Kilkenny) in Ireland. He was known for his writings on theology and philosophy.
Another notable figure with the name Kielan was Kielan Óg Ó Rothláin, an Irish poet and historian who lived in the 16th century. He was a member of the Ó Rothláin family, a prominent bardic family from County Westmeath, Ireland, and is known for his poetry and historical writings.
In the 17th century, Kielan Ó Máille was an Irish chieftain and leader of the Ó Máille clan in County Mayo, Ireland. He played a significant role in the Irish Confederate Wars, leading his clan in support of the Irish Confederates against the English forces.
In more recent times, Kielan Mellitte was an American author and playwright who lived from 1917 to 2006. He was best known for his plays and novels that explored themes of family, identity, and the African-American experience.
While the name Kielan has its roots in Irish culture and history, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, as a unique and distinctive name with cultural significance.
People
Kielan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kielan 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
Kielan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kielan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kielan 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 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Kielan a common name?
We classify Kielan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kielan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kielan was 2007, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kielan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kielan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 148 people with the name Kielan, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,698 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 Kielan 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 Kielan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kielan leans strongly male. 120 people counted with this name were male (82.8%), compared with 25 female bearers (17.2%). 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 Kielan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kielan is White at 46.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.1%) and Two or More Races (9.5%). 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 Kielan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kielan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.6% (69 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 Kielan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kielan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kielan 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 Kielan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kielan 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 Kielan 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 Kielan as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.