Kinga
Queen or ruler in Polish origin.
Name Census estimates that about 203 living Americans carry the first name Kinga. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kinga today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kinga births was 2008 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kinga. 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 Kinga with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
203
~ 1 in 1,688,445 Americans
Peak year
2008
16 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,332
Tracked since 1987
Census
Kinga in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,278 people with the first name Kinga, which placed it at #10,439 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
#10,439
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kinga
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinga is White at 97.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Kinga 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 Kinga at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.3% · 1,244
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 10
- Two or more races0.6% · 8
- Black or African American0.5% · 6
Popularity
Kinga: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kinga from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 95 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
Kinga 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 Kinga during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kingas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kinga
The name Kinga has its origins in the Polish language and culture, dating back to the medieval period. It is a feminine form of the name Kinga, which is derived from the Old Polish word "kęga," meaning "a book or scroll." This connection suggests that the name may have been associated with education, learning, or literacy in its early historical usage.
One of the earliest and most prominent historical figures to bear the name Kinga was Saint Kinga of Poland (1224-1292), a Polish princess and a member of the Hungarian royal family. She is renowned for her piety, charitable works, and her role in the establishment of the Salt Mines of Wieliczka, which became an important economic and cultural center in Poland.
Another notable Kinga from history is Kinga of Saxony (1516-1563), who was a Polish princess and a member of the House of Wettin. She played a significant role in the Reformation in Poland, actively supporting the spread of Protestantism and advocating for religious tolerance.
In the realm of literature, one of the earliest known uses of the name Kinga can be found in the Polish epic poem "Pan Tadeusz" by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), where a character named Kinga is mentioned.
Moving into the modern era, a famous bearer of the name Kinga was Kinga Dunikowska (1936-2004), a Polish actress and theater director. She was widely celebrated for her performances on stage and in film, and received numerous awards and honors throughout her career.
Another noteworthy Kinga was Kinga Baranowska (1935-2011), a Polish writer and journalist. She was known for her novels, short stories, and essays, which often explored themes of history, identity, and the human condition.
Throughout its history, the name Kinga has maintained a strong connection to Polish culture and heritage, while also gaining recognition and popularity in other parts of the world. Its origins and associations with education, religion, and the arts have contributed to its enduring legacy and significance.
People
Kinga + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kinga 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
Kinga: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kinga?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 203 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kinga 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 1,688,445 US residents.
Is Kinga a common name?
We classify Kinga as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kinga most popular?
The single biggest year for Kinga was 2008, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kinga is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kinga in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,278 people with the name Kinga, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,439 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 Kinga 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 Kinga?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kinga appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,272 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kinga?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinga is White at 97.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Kinga most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kinga in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (1,244 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 Kinga in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kinga a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kinga in the SSA data are female. 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 Kinga still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kinga 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 Kinga 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 Kinga?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.