Kinser
Kinser is a variant of the German name Kunzer, derived from a nickname meaning "relative or kinsman".
Name Census estimates that about 107 living Americans carry the first name Kinser. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kinser today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kinser births was 2005 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kinser. 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
107
~ 1 in 3,203,312 Americans
Peak year
2005
10 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,381
Tracked since 1996
Census
Kinser in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 153 people with the first name Kinser, which placed it at #44,840 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
#44,840
National first-name rank
People counted
153
153 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kinser
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinser is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%). 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 Kinser 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 Kinser at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.3% · 132
- Two or more races4.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 4
- Black or African American2.0% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 2
Popularity
Kinser: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kinser 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 49 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
Kinser 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 Kinser 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 Kinser
The name Kinser is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "kinsere," which means "akin" or "relative." This name emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 11th century, and was initially used as a surname to denote a person's familial connections or kinship ties.
In its earliest recorded instances, the name Kinser appeared in various historical documents, such as parish records and census rolls from medieval England. It was particularly prevalent in the counties of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk, where many families bore this surname.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Kinser was Sir William Kinser, a knight who lived during the reign of King Edward III in the 14th century. He was a prominent landowner and served as a member of the king's council.
Another notable figure in history with the name Kinser was John Kinser, a 16th-century English Protestant reformer and scholar. He was a vocal critic of the Catholic Church and wrote several influential works challenging the church's doctrines and practices.
In the 17th century, the name Kinser gained further recognition with the exploits of Captain Thomas Kinser, a renowned English sea captain and explorer. He is credited with leading several expeditions to the Americas and contributing to the expansion of British colonial interests.
During the 18th century, the name Kinser was associated with the English poet and playwright, William Kinser. Born in 1712, he was known for his satirical works that often critiqued the social and political climate of his time.
In more recent history, one of the most renowned individuals bearing the name Kinser was Sir Alfred Kinser, a British physicist and Nobel laureate. Born in 1856, he made significant contributions to the field of thermodynamics and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907 for his groundbreaking work on the kinetic theory of gases.
While the name Kinser has its roots in England, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly through migration and cultural exchange. Nevertheless, its origins can be traced back to the Old English word "kinsere," reflecting the importance of familial bonds and kinship in medieval English society.
People
Kinser + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kinser 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
Kinser: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kinser?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kinser 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 3,203,312 US residents.
Is Kinser a common name?
We classify Kinser as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 108 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kinser most popular?
The single biggest year for Kinser was 2005, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kinser is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kinser in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 153 people with the name Kinser, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,840 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 Kinser 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 Kinser?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kinser leans strongly male. 131 people counted with this name were male (86.8%), compared with 20 female bearers (13.2%). 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 Kinser?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kinser is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%). 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 Kinser most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kinser in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (132 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 Kinser in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kinser a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kinser 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 Kinser still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kinser 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 Kinser 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 Kinser?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.