Kiyo
Pure, healthy, bright, clear - a name of Japanese origin.
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Kiyo. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Kiyo today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kiyo births was 1920 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kiyo. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kiyo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1920
13 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,385
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kiyo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 287 people with the first name Kiyo, which placed it at #30,385 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
#30,385
National first-name rank
People counted
287
287 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
63.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kiyo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiyo is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (19.9%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Kiyo 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 Kiyo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander63.4% · 182
- Two or more races19.9% · 57
- Black or African American7.7% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 16
- White3.5% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Kiyo
Kiyo leans heavily female at 86.3% of total registrations, but 17 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kiyo as a male name
- Ranked #10,385 in 2022
- 7 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (7 births)
Kiyo as a female name
- Ranked #16,496 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kiyo on both sides of the split. Of the 287 people counted with this name, 58 were male (20.2%) and 229 were female (79.8%).
Popularity
Kiyo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kiyo from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Kiyo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kiyo 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 Kiyo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kiyos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kiyo
The given name Kiyo has its origins in Japanese culture, with the name being a shortened form of the name Kiyoshi. The name Kiyoshi is derived from the Japanese words "kiyo," meaning "pure" or "bright," and "shi," meaning "child" or "born."
The earliest recorded use of the name Kiyo dates back to the Heian period in Japan, which spanned from 794 to 1185 CE. During this era, the name appeared in various literary works and historical records, often associated with individuals from noble or aristocratic families.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Kiyo was Kiyowara no Genzui, a renowned waka poet who lived during the late 9th century. His works have been preserved in various imperial anthologies, including the Kokin Wakashū, one of the most famous collections of Japanese poetry from the Heian period.
Another prominent individual bearing the name Kiyo was Kiyohara no Fukayabu, a high-ranking court official and calligrapher who lived during the 12th century. He was celebrated for his exceptional calligraphic skills and served as a tutor to members of the imperial family.
In the realm of Japanese Buddhism, the name Kiyo is associated with the renowned Zen monk Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903). He was a influential figure in the modernization of Buddhism in Japan and a proponent of the concept of "Buddhist Socialism," which aimed to reconcile Buddhist teachings with modern social and political ideals.
The name Kiyo also appears in Japanese literature and theater. One notable example is Kiyo, the protagonist of the Noh play "Kiyo no Kawagiri" (The Stray Geese of Kiyo), which is based on a legend from the 14th century.
In the realm of martial arts, Kiyoshi Yamazaki (1899-1995) was a renowned Japanese judoka and one of the first female practitioners of judo. She played a significant role in promoting the practice of judo among women and was awarded the prestigious rank of 10th dan, the highest rank in judo, in recognition of her contributions.
While the name Kiyo has its roots in Japanese culture, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among those with an appreciation for Japanese names or those of Japanese descent. The name continues to carry the connotations of purity, brightness, and nobility that were associated with it throughout its historical usage.
People
Kiyo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kiyo 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
Kiyo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kiyo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kiyo 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Kiyo a common name?
We classify Kiyo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kiyo most popular?
The single biggest year for Kiyo was 1920, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kiyo is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kiyo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 287 people with the name Kiyo, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,385 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 Kiyo 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 Kiyo?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kiyo on both sides of the split. Of the 287 people counted with this name, 58 were male (20.2%) and 229 were female (79.8%). 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 Kiyo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiyo is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (19.9%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Kiyo most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kiyo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.4% (182 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 Kiyo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kiyo a female name?
Yes, 86.3% of people registered as Kiyo 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 Kiyo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kiyo 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 Kiyo 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 called Kiyo?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.