Killyan
An Irish name meaning "bright-headed" or "son of the bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Killyan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Killyan today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Killyan births was 2023 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Killyan. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Killyan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2023
6 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,602
Tracked since 2019
Popularity
Killyan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Killyan from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Killyan 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 Killyan 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 Killyan
The name Killyan is believed to have its origins in the ancient Gaelic language, which was spoken in parts of Ireland and Scotland. It is derived from the Old Irish word "cillian," which means "bright-headed" or "bald-headed." The name was likely first used in the early medieval period, sometime between the 5th and 10th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle that dates back to the 15th century. The annals mention a man named Cillian, who was a prominent scholar and abbot in the 7th century. He is often referred to as Saint Cillian or Cillian of Ferbane.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Killyan was Killian of Würzburg, a 7th-century Irish missionary and martyr. He was born in Ireland around 640 AD and later traveled to Germany to spread Christianity. He was eventually martyred along with his companions in 689 AD in what is now the city of Würzburg.
In the 9th century, a Killyan appears in the Annals of Inisfallen, a historical record of events in Ireland from the 5th to the 13th century. This Killyan was a scribe and scholar who lived in the Irish monastery of Inisfallen on the island of Inisfallen in Lough Leane, County Kerry.
During the Middle Ages, the name Killyan was also popular among Norse settlers in Ireland and Scotland. One notable bearer of the name was Killian Brun, a 12th-century Norse-Gaelic chieftain and King of Dublin. He ruled over the Norse Kingdom of Dublin from 1120 to 1122 AD.
In more recent history, a famous bearer of the name was Killian Van Rensselaer, a prominent American landowner and politician in the 18th century. He was born in 1663 in the Dutch colony of New Netherland (now New York) and was a member of the influential Van Rensselaer family. He served as a member of the New York Provincial Assembly and was a major landowner and patron of the city of Albany.
People
Killyan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Killyan 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
Killyan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Killyan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Killyan 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Killyan a common name?
We classify Killyan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Killyan most popular?
The single biggest year for Killyan was 2023, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Killyan is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Killyan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Killyan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Killyan 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 Killyan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Killyan 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 Killyan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Killyan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.