Kirby
A masculine name derived from a Church name meaning "church settlement".
Name Census estimates that about 14,306 living Americans carry the first name Kirby. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Kirby today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kirby births was 1984 (509 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kirby. 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 Kirby with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 23,959 Americans
Peak year
1984
509 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,539
Tracked since 1881
Census
Kirby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,278 people with the first name Kirby, which placed it at #2,047 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
#2,047
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kirby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirby is White at 77.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Kirby 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 Kirby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.3% · 10,266
- Black or African American12.4% · 1,646
- Two or more races3.2% · 422
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 373
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 373
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 198
Gender
Gender distribution for Kirby
Kirby is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 18,395 total registrations, 14,497 (78.8%) were male and 3,898 (21.2%) were female.
Kirby as a male name
- Ranked #2,578 in 2024
- 52 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (358 births)
Kirby as a female name
- Ranked #2,539 in 2024
- 70 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (367 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kirby on both sides of the split. Of the 13,276 people counted with this name, 9,974 were male (75.1%) and 3,302 were female (24.9%).
Popularity
Kirby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kirby from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 3,130 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kirby 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 Kirby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kirbys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, California, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Kirby, while Wyoming, District of Columbia, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 242 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kirby
The name Kirby has its origins in the Old Norse language, specifically deriving from the Old Norse words "kirkja" meaning church and "by" meaning village or town. It is believed to have emerged as a surname in the early Middle Ages, referring to someone who lived near a church or in a village with a prominent church.
In the early 11th century, the name Kirby first appeared as a place name in various regions of England, such as Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire and Kirby Grindalythe in Yorkshire. These place names were likely derived from the Old Norse words, indicating settlements with churches.
The earliest recorded use of Kirby as a given name can be traced back to the 13th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Sir John Kirby, a knight who fought in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kirby. In the 16th century, Sir William Kirby (1489-1575) was an English landowner and member of parliament during the reign of Henry VIII. Another notable figure was John Kirby (1690-1753), an English artist and author known for his illustrated works on the natural world.
In the 19th century, Kirby Smith (1824-1893) was a prominent Confederate general during the American Civil War, serving as the last surviving full general of the Confederate States Army. William Forsell Kirby (1844-1912) was a renowned British entomologist and lepidopterist, making significant contributions to the study of butterflies and moths.
More recently, Kirby Puckett (1960-2006) was a celebrated American professional baseball player who spent his entire career with the Minnesota Twins and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.
While the name Kirby has its roots in Old Norse and was initially used as a surname or place name, it gradually transitioned into a given name, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its meaning and association with villages or settlements near churches have persisted throughout its history, adding a sense of tradition and connection to its bearers.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kirby
People
Kirby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kirby 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
Kirby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kirby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,306 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kirby 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 23,959 US residents.
Is Kirby a common name?
We classify Kirby as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,395 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kirby most popular?
The single biggest year for Kirby was 1984, when 509 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kirby is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kirby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,278 people with the name Kirby, or 4.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,047 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 Kirby 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 Kirby?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kirby on both sides of the split. Of the 13,276 people counted with this name, 9,974 were male (75.1%) and 3,302 were female (24.9%). 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 Kirby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirby is White at 77.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Kirby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kirby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.3% (10,266 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 Kirby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kirby a male name?
Yes, 78.8% of people registered as Kirby 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 Kirby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kirby 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 Kirby 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 are named Kirby?
Find out how many Americans are named Kirby on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.