Kinan
An Arabic name meaning "high, elevated, or skilled."
Name Census estimates that about 336 living Americans carry the first name Kinan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kinan today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kinan births was 2022 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kinan. 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 Kinan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
336
~ 1 in 1,020,102 Americans
Peak year
2022
33 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,369
Tracked since 1997
Census
Kinan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 291 people with the first name Kinan, which placed it at #30,113 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
#30,113
National first-name rank
People counted
291
291 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kinan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinan is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.7%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Kinan 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 Kinan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.8% · 203
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 34
- Black or African American7.9% · 23
- Two or more races5.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Kinan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kinan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 148 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
Kinan 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 Kinan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kinans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Kinan, while Illinois, Michigan, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kinan
The name Kinan is of Arabic origin, with its roots tracing back to the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East. It is believed to have derived from the Arabic word "kana," which means "to be" or "to exist." This suggests that the name Kinan may have been associated with concepts of existence, life, and being.
Historically, the name Kinan has been widely used across the Arab world, particularly in regions like Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon. In Islamic tradition, Kinan is mentioned as the name of one of the early ancestors of the Prophet Muhammad, further strengthening its connection to the Arabic cultural heritage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kinan can be found in the ancient Arabic poetry and literature, where it was often used as a poetic name or as a reference to a person of noble or distinguished lineage. The name gained popularity during the early Islamic era and has been carried by notable figures throughout history.
One such figure was Kinan ibn al-Salt (7th century CE), a renowned Arab poet and warrior from the Umayyad period. His poetry and military exploits have been celebrated in various historical accounts, cementing his place in the cultural annals of the time.
Another notable bearer of the name was Kinan al-Rawi (9th century CE), a celebrated Arabic scholar and grammarian who made significant contributions to the study and preservation of the Arabic language during the Abbasid Caliphate.
In the realm of Islamic scholarship, Kinan al-Naysaburi (10th century CE) was a prominent Persian theologian and jurist who authored several influential works on Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy.
During the Mamluk period in Egypt, Kinan al-Hafiz (14th century CE) was a respected historian and chronicler, known for his meticulous accounts of the events and personalities of his time.
More recently, Kinan Azmeh (born in 1976) is a renowned Syrian clarinetist and composer, whose works have been celebrated on international stages, blending classical and traditional Arabic music influences.
While the name Kinan has maintained a strong presence in the Arab world, it has also gained popularity in other regions, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries. Its rich history and enduring legacy continue to inspire generations, serving as a testament to the timeless nature of names and their ability to connect us to our shared human experiences.
People
Kinan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kinan 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
Kinan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kinan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 336 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kinan 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 1,020,102 US residents.
Is Kinan a common name?
We classify Kinan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 339 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kinan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kinan was 2022, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kinan is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kinan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 291 people with the name Kinan, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,113 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 Kinan 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 Kinan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kinan leans strongly male. 279 people counted with this name were male (95.2%), compared with 14 female bearers (4.8%). 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 Kinan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinan is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.7%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Kinan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kinan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.8% (203 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 Kinan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kinan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kinan 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 Kinan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kinan 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 Kinan 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 share the name Kinan?
Want to know how many people share the name Kinan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.