Kier
A Welsh name meaning "black"
Name Census estimates that about 476 living Americans carry the first name Kier. It is a predominantly male name (97.8% of registrations). The average person named Kier today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kier births was 1995 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kier. 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 Kier with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
476
~ 1 in 720,072 Americans
Peak year
1995
22 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,409
Tracked since 1963
Census
Kier in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 558 people with the first name Kier, which placed it at #19,133 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
#19,133
National first-name rank
People counted
558
558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kier
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kier is White at 44.4%. The next largest groups are Black (34.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%). 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 Kier 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 Kier at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.4% · 248
- Black or African American34.9% · 195
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 43
- Two or more races7.2% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Kier
Kier leans heavily male at 97.8% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kier as a male name
- Ranked #10,409 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (22 births)
Kier as a female name
- Ranked #14,596 in 1994
- 5 female births in 1994
- Peak: 1970 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kier on both sides of the split. Of the 551 people counted with this name, 428 were male (77.7%) and 123 were female (22.3%).
Popularity
Kier: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kier from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 135 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
Kier 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 Kier during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kiers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kier
The name Kier has its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the 5th century AD. It is derived from the Old English word "cière," which means "turn" or "curve." This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with someone who lived near a bend in a river or a curving path.
During the Anglo-Saxon period, the name Kier was primarily used in the regions that are now parts of England and Scotland. There are records of individuals bearing this name in various historical documents from that era, although its usage was not widespread.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kier can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in several entries, indicating that individuals with this name held land or property during that time.
In the 12th century, a Scottish nobleman named Kier of Inchture was mentioned in the records of King William the Lion's reign. This suggests that the name had gained some prominence in Scotland by that period.
Throughout the medieval era, the name Kier was primarily associated with individuals of Anglo-Saxon or Scottish descent. It was not until the 16th century that the name began to spread more widely across Europe and beyond.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Kier include:
1. Kier Hardie (1856-1915), a Scottish politician and founder of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom.
2. Kier Byrne (1864-1935), an Australian cricketer who played for the national team in the late 19th century.
3. Kier Gildes (1890-1966), a British artist and sculptor known for his modernist works.
4. Kier Starmer (born 1962), a British politician and current leader of the Labour Party.
5. Kier Pollitt (born 1981), an American author and poet who has published several collections of poetry.
While the name Kier has ancient roots and a rich historical background, it has never been among the most common given names in any region. However, it has maintained a modest presence throughout the centuries, particularly in areas with strong Anglo-Saxon or Scottish cultural influences.
People
Kier + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kier 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
Kier: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kier?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kier 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 720,072 US residents.
Is Kier a common name?
We classify Kier as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 495 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kier most popular?
The single biggest year for Kier was 1995, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kier is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kier in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 558 people with the name Kier, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,133 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 Kier 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 Kier?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kier on both sides of the split. Of the 551 people counted with this name, 428 were male (77.7%) and 123 were female (22.3%). 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 Kier?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kier is White at 44.4%. The next largest groups are Black (34.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%). 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 Kier most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kier in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.4% (248 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 Kier in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kier a male name?
Yes, 97.8% of people registered as Kier 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 Kier still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kier 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 Kier 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 the name Kier?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Kier, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.