Kinleigh
Kinleigh is a feminine name of English origin that means "king's meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 2,092 living Americans carry the first name Kinleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kinleigh today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kinleigh births was 2014 (233 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kinleigh. 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
- • Kinleigh is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 163,841 Americans
Peak year
2014
233 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,346
Tracked since 1998
Census
Kinleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,561 people with the first name Kinleigh, which placed it at #9,070 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
#9,070
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,561 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kinleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinleigh is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 1,328
- Two or more races6.8% · 106
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 61
- Black or African American2.9% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 6
Popularity
Kinleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kinleigh from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,540 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kinleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Texas, Indiana, Georgia recorded the most babies named Kinleigh, while Wisconsin, West Virginia, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kinleigh
The given name Kinleigh has its roots in the Gaelic language, originating from the Scottish Highlands during the Middle Ages. The name is derived from the Gaelic words "kin" meaning "kin" or "family," and "leigh" meaning "meadow" or "clearing." Together, these elements form the meaning "meadow of the family" or "kin's meadow."
In ancient Scottish lore, the name Kinleigh was often associated with clans or families who resided in or near meadows or clearings. It was a name that carried a sense of belonging to a particular land or territory. Some historians believe that the name may have been used to identify families or individuals who were responsible for maintaining or overseeing these meadows or clearings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kinleigh can be found in the annals of the Clan MacKinnon, a Highland Scottish clan from the Isle of Skye. The name appears in the clan's genealogical records dating back to the 13th century, where a chieftain named Kinleigh MacKinnon is mentioned.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kinleigh. In the 15th century, Kinleigh MacDonald was a Scottish warrior and member of the Clan MacDonald. He played a significant role in the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, where he fought alongside his clan against the combined forces of the Earl of Mar and the Lowland Scottish nobility.
In the 17th century, Kinleigh Campbell was a Scottish writer and poet known for his works celebrating the beauty of the Scottish Highlands. He was born in 1620 and died in 1689. His collection of poems, entitled "The Meadows of the North," was widely acclaimed during his lifetime.
Another notable figure was Kinleigh MacLeod, a Scottish explorer who lived from 1780 to 1856. He is remembered for his expeditions to the Canadian Arctic, where he made significant contributions to the mapping and exploration of the region.
In the 19th century, Kinleigh Fraser was a Scottish entrepreneur and industrialist. Born in 1822, he founded the Fraser Textile Company, which became one of the largest textile manufacturers in Scotland during the Industrial Revolution.
While the name Kinleigh is not as common today as it once was, it remains a part of Scottish heritage and culture, reflecting the strong connection between the people and the land they inhabited.
People
Kinleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kinleigh 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
Kinleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kinleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,092 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kinleigh 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 163,841 US residents.
Is Kinleigh a common name?
We classify Kinleigh as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,109 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kinleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Kinleigh was 2014, when 233 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kinleigh is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kinleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,561 people with the name Kinleigh, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,070 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 Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kinleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,570 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Kinleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinleigh is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Kinleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kinleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (1,328 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 Kinleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kinleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kinleigh at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.