Kincade
Of Gaelic origin, meaning "born of fire" or "from the chief place".
Name Census estimates that about 213 living Americans carry the first name Kincade. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kincade today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kincade births was 2002 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kincade. 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.
People living today
213
~ 1 in 1,609,175 Americans
Peak year
2002
17 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,605
Tracked since 1995
Census
Kincade in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 215 people with the first name Kincade, which placed it at #36,733 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
#36,733
National first-name rank
People counted
215
215 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kincade
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kincade is White at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Kincade 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 Kincade at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.3% · 177
- Two or more races7.4% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 4
- Black or African American0.9% · 2
Popularity
Kincade: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kincade from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 107 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kincade 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 Kincade 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 Kincade
The name Kincade is believed to have originated from the Irish Gaelic language, where it is derived from the words "cion" meaning "affection" and "cath" meaning "battle." This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with a person who was affectionate or loving, yet also a skilled warrior or fighter.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kincade dates back to the 12th century in Ireland, where it was likely used as a surname or clan name before becoming a given name. It was particularly prevalent in the counties of Galway and Mayo, where it was often anglicized to the spelling "Kincaid" or "Kinkead."
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Kincade was Kincade the Harper, a renowned Irish harpist who lived in the 16th century and was known for his exceptional musical talents. He is mentioned in several ancient Irish bardic texts and is credited with composing numerous traditional melodies that have been preserved through the centuries.
In the 17th century, there are records of a Scottish soldier named Kincade Mackenzie, who fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms between England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was known for his bravery and loyalty to the Scottish cause.
Another significant historical figure was Kincade O'Donnell, an Irish chieftain who lived in the 16th century and led the Clan O'Donnell in their resistance against English colonization in Ulster. He was renowned for his military strategies and his efforts to preserve Irish culture and independence.
In the realm of literature, the name Kincade appeared in the works of Irish novelist and poet William Butler Yeats, who included characters bearing this name in some of his writings, reflecting the name's Irish roots and cultural significance.
Other notable individuals with the name Kincade include Kincade MacLeod (1842-1912), a Scottish-born Canadian politician and businessman who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and Kincade Pratt (1888-1964), an American artist and illustrator known for his landscape paintings and illustrations in publications such as Life magazine.
People
Kincade + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kincade 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
Kincade: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kincade?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 213 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kincade 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 1,609,175 US residents.
Is Kincade a common name?
We classify Kincade as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 216 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kincade most popular?
The single biggest year for Kincade was 2002, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kincade is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kincade in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 215 people with the name Kincade, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,733 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 Kincade 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 Kincade?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kincade leans strongly male. 202 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 8 female bearers (3.8%). 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 Kincade?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kincade is White at 82.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.4%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Kincade most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kincade in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.3% (177 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 Kincade in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kincade a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kincade 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 Kincade still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kincade 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 Kincade 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 common is the name Kincade?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Kincade on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.