Kitana
A feminine name of Japanese origin meaning "north".
Name Census estimates that about 1,605 living Americans carry the first name Kitana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kitana today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kitana births was 1996 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kitana. 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 Kitana with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kitana is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 213,554 Americans
Peak year
1996
87 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,940
Tracked since 1994
Census
Kitana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,135 people with the first name Kitana, which placed it at #11,353 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
#11,353
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,135 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
28.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kitana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kitana is Hispanic at 28.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.5%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Kitana 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 Kitana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino28.8% · 327
- White27.5% · 312
- Black or African American15.6% · 177
- Two or more races13.5% · 153
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.2% · 116
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.4% · 50
Popularity
Kitana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kitana 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 565 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kitana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kitana 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 Kitana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kitanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kitana, while Virginia, Georgia, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kitana
The name Kitana is believed to have its origins in the Japanese language and culture. It is thought to be derived from the Japanese word "kitana," which means "beautiful" or "elegant." This suggests that the name may have been given to children with the hope that they would embody these qualities.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kitana dates back to the 17th century in Japan. During this time period, the name was likely used primarily within Japanese noble and samurai families, as names with more ornate or poetic meanings were often favored among the upper classes.
In ancient Japanese literature, there are a few references to characters with names similar to Kitana. For example, in the classic tale "The Tale of Genji," written in the early 11th century, there is a character named Kitanokaji, which translates to "beautiful tree." While not an exact match, this name shares the "kitan" element, which could be related to the root of Kitana.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kitana was Kitana Shōshin, a Japanese Buddhist monk and calligrapher who lived from 1670 to 1740. He was known for his skilled brushwork and for helping to preserve and promote the art of calligraphy during his lifetime.
Another notable Kitana from history was Kitana Hiroshige, a Japanese artist and ukiyo-e woodblock print master who lived from 1797 to 1858. He is particularly renowned for his landscape prints depicting scenes from the Tōkaidō road, which connected the cities of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Kyoto.
In the 19th century, there was a Japanese poet and author named Kitana Akiko, born in 1878 and known for her works exploring themes of nature, love, and the human condition. Her poetry collections, such as "Tansoku" and "Shūcho," were widely celebrated during her lifetime.
Moving into the 20th century, Kitana Yasuko was a Japanese sculptor and ceramicist who lived from 1915 to 2005. She is remembered for her intricate ceramic sculptures and for helping to promote the art of ceramics both within Japan and internationally.
Finally, Kitana Eri was a Japanese actress and singer who lived from 1936 to 2019. She had a successful career in both film and television, appearing in numerous popular movies and TV series throughout her long career spanning several decades.
While the name Kitana has its roots in Japanese culture, it has since gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States and other Western countries, where it is often seen as an elegant and exotic-sounding name.
People
Kitana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kitana 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
Kitana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kitana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,605 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kitana 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 213,554 US residents.
Is Kitana a common name?
We classify Kitana as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,627 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kitana most popular?
The single biggest year for Kitana was 1996, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kitana is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kitana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,135 people with the name Kitana, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,353 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 Kitana 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 Kitana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kitana appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,127 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Kitana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kitana is Hispanic at 28.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.5%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Kitana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Kitana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 28.8% (327 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 Kitana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kitana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kitana 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 Kitana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kitana 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 Kitana 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 Kitana as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.