Kirubel
A masculine Ethiopian given name meaning "glory of God".
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Kirubel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kirubel today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kirubel births was 2018 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kirubel. 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 Kirubel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
2018
20 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,115
Tracked since 1997
Census
Kirubel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 429 people with the first name Kirubel, which placed it at #22,989 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
#22,989
National first-name rank
People counted
429
429 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kirubel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirubel is Black at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.4%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Kirubel 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 Kirubel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.4% · 418
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 6
- Two or more races0.7% · 3
- White0.5% · 2
Popularity
Kirubel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kirubel 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 133 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kirubel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kirubel 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 Kirubel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kirubels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kirubel
The name Kirubel is of Amharic origin, with roots traced back to ancient Ethiopia. It is derived from the Amharic words "kərub" meaning "angel" and "əl" meaning "of God". Thus, the name can be translated to mean "Angel of God" or "God's Angel".
In the early centuries of Christianity's spread in the Horn of Africa, the name Kirubel emerged as a popular choice for newborns among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian community. Its connection to angelic beings resonated with the religious beliefs and cultural traditions of the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kirubel can be found in the chronicles of the Solomonic dynasty, which ruled over the Ethiopian Empire from the 13th to the 20th century. Several princes and nobles from this lineage bore the name, reflecting its significance within the royal court.
Throughout the centuries, Kirubel has been a name carried by numerous notable figures in Ethiopian history. One such individual was Kirubel Aragawi, a renowned 17th-century scholar and ecclesiastic leader who played a pivotal role in preserving and propagating the Ethiopian Orthodox faith during a turbulent period.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Kirubel Tasew, a 19th-century military commander who fought valiantly against the invading Italian forces during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. His bravery and leadership on the battlefield earned him a place in the annals of Ethiopian history.
In the realm of literature, Kirubel Gebru, born in 1878, was a celebrated poet and playwright whose works captured the essence of Ethiopian culture and identity. His poetic compositions remain cherished treasures of the nation's literary heritage.
The name Kirubel also found its way into the world of Ethiopian sports, with Kirubel Fikadu, born in 1935, being a revered long-distance runner who won numerous international accolades, including gold medals at the prestigious All-Africa Games.
Despite its ancient roots, the name Kirubel continues to be a popular choice among Ethiopian families, serving as a testament to the enduring influence of cultural and religious traditions on naming practices.
People
Kirubel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kirubel 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
Kirubel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kirubel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kirubel 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Kirubel a common name?
We classify Kirubel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kirubel most popular?
The single biggest year for Kirubel was 2018, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kirubel 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 Kirubel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 429 people with the name Kirubel, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,989 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 Kirubel 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 Kirubel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kirubel appears almost entirely male. Of the 424 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Kirubel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirubel is Black at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.4%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Kirubel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kirubel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.4% (418 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 Kirubel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kirubel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kirubel 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 Kirubel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kirubel 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 Kirubel 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 Kirubel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.