Kirill
From Greek origin, it conveys the meaning "master" or "lord".
Name Census estimates that about 471 living Americans carry the first name Kirill. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kirill today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kirill births was 2014 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kirill. 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
471
~ 1 in 727,716 Americans
Peak year
2014
38 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,445
Tracked since 1997
Popularity
Kirill: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kirill 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 283 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
Kirill 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 Kirill during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kirills live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Florida, California, New York recorded the most babies named Kirill, while Washington, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kirill
The name Kirill has its origins in the Greek language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "kyrios," meaning "lord" or "master." The name was initially associated with the Lord Jesus Christ in early Christian communities.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Kirill can be found in the 4th century, when Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, a renowned theologian and bishop, lived from around 315 to 386 AD. He is known for his influential lectures on Christian doctrine and his defense of the Orthodox faith.
In the 9th century, a prominent figure named Saint Cyril (or Kirill) the Philosopher, along with his brother Methodius, played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity among the Slavic peoples. They are credited with creating the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, which facilitated the translation of religious texts into Slavic languages.
Another notable Kirill was Cyril Lucaris, a 17th-century Greek prelate who served as the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1612 to 1638. He is remembered for his efforts to reform the Eastern Orthodox Church and his involvement in the Calvinist controversy.
In Russian history, several prominent figures bore the name Kirill. One of them was Cyril of Turov, a 12th-century bishop and writer who is considered one of the most important figures in the development of Old East Slavic literature.
Another famous Kirill was Cyril of White Lake, a 15th-century Russian Orthodox monastic and saint, known for his ascetic lifestyle and founding of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, one of the wealthiest and most influential monasteries in medieval Russia.
Kirill Razumovsky, who lived from 1728 to 1803, was a prominent Russian nobleman and the last Hetman (leader) of the Cossack Hetmanate, a semi-autonomous Ukrainian state under the Russian Empire.
The name Kirill has been widely used throughout the Eastern Orthodox Christian world, particularly in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other Slavic countries, where it has been a popular choice for centuries.
People
Kirill + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kirill 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
Kirill: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kirill?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 471 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kirill 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 727,716 US residents.
Is Kirill a common name?
We classify Kirill as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 475 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kirill most popular?
The single biggest year for Kirill was 2014, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kirill is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kirill a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kirill 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.
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.