Kieran
An Irish masculine given name meaning "little dark one".
Name Census estimates that about 17,885 living Americans carry the first name Kieran. It sits at #440 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (91.3% of registrations). The average person named Kieran today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kieran births was 2024 (724 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kieran. 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 Kieran with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,164 Americans
Peak year
2024
724 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#440
Tracked since 1918
Census
Kieran in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,311 people with the first name Kieran, which placed it at #1,874 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
#1,874
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,311 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kieran
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kieran is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.5%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Kieran 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 Kieran at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.8% · 11,303
- Two or more races11.5% · 1,763
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 1,007
- Black or African American5.0% · 760
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 371
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 107
Gender
Gender distribution for Kieran
Kieran leans heavily male at 91.3% of total registrations, but 1,594 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kieran as a male name
- Ranked #440 in 2024
- 713 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (713 births)
Kieran as a female name
- Ranked #9,227 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (77 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kieran leans strongly male. 13,793 people counted with this name were male (90.1%), compared with 1,513 female bearers (9.9%).
Popularity
Kieran: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kieran from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,620 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kieran remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kieran 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 Kieran during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kierans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Kieran, while Montana, Hawaii, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 304 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kieran
The name Kieran originated from the Irish Gaelic name Ciarán, which is derived from the word "ciar" meaning "black" or "dark featured". This name has its roots in ancient Celtic culture and is believed to date back to the 5th century AD.
Kieran was a popular name among early Irish saints and religious figures. One of the most notable was St. Ciarán of Saigir, who lived in the 6th century and founded the monastery of Seir-Kieran in County Offaly, Ireland. Another famous bearer of this name was St. Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, who established the important monastic school of Clonmacnoise in County Offaly in the 6th century.
In the 9th century, the Martyrology of Oengus recorded several individuals named Ciarán, indicating the name's widespread use during that era. The name also appeared in various Irish annals and historical records throughout the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kieran comes from the 11th century, when it was borne by Ciarán Ua Ruadhacáin, an Irish poet and historian. In the 12th century, Ciarán Ua Conchobhair was a renowned Irish scribe and scholar.
During the Medieval period, the name Kieran was also associated with prominent figures in Scotland. Kieran of Dull, a Scottish saint who lived in the 7th century, was known for founding a church in Dull, Perthshire.
Other notable individuals named Kieran throughout history include:
1. Kieran Bracken (born 1972), an English former rugby union player.
2. Kieran Culkin (born 1982), an American actor known for his roles in movies like "Succession" and "Igby Goes Down".
3. Kieran Donaghy (born 1983), an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for Kerry.
4. Kieran Fallon (born 1965), a British former flat racing jockey.
5. Kieran Foran (born 1990), a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer.
While the name Kieran has its roots in Irish Gaelic culture, it has gained popularity worldwide and is now used in various countries and communities.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kieran
People
Kieran + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kieran 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
Kieran: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kieran?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,885 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kieran 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 19,164 US residents.
Is Kieran a common name?
We classify Kieran as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,382 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kieran most popular?
The single biggest year for Kieran was 2024, when 724 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kieran 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 Kieran in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,311 people with the name Kieran, or 5.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,874 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 Kieran 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 Kieran?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kieran leans strongly male. 13,793 people counted with this name were male (90.1%), compared with 1,513 female bearers (9.9%). 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 Kieran?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kieran is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.5%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Kieran most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kieran in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.8% (11,303 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 Kieran in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kieran a male name?
Yes, 91.3% of people registered as Kieran 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 Kieran still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kieran 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 Kieran 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 Americans are named Kieran?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.