Kong
A masculine East Asian name meaning "bright" or "enlightened".
Name Census estimates that about 906 living Americans carry the first name Kong. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kong today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kong births was 1993 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kong. 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
906
~ 1 in 378,316 Americans
Peak year
1993
74 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2012 SSA rank
#11,616
Tracked since 1979
Census
Kong in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,654 people with the first name Kong, which placed it at #6,128 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
#6,128
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,654 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kong
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kong is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Kong 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 Kong at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.7% · 2,593
- White1.1% · 30
- Black or African American0.5% · 13
- Two or more races0.4% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Kong: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kong from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 474 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kong 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 Kong during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kongs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Kong, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 225 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kong
The name Kong is believed to have originated from the Chinese language, specifically from the Cantonese dialect spoken in the Guangdong province of southern China. It is thought to be derived from the Chinese word "gang," which means "healthy" or "robust."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kong can be found in the classical Chinese text "The Analects" by Confucius, which dates back to around 500 BC. In this work, the name Kong is used to refer to Confucius himself, whose given name was Kong Qiu.
In ancient China, the name Kong was often associated with strength, resilience, and longevity. It was a popular choice among families who wished to bestow these qualities upon their sons.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kong. One of the most famous was Kong Rong (153-208 AD), a Chinese philosopher and writer who lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was known for his commentary on the Confucian classic "The Book of Rites."
Another prominent figure was Kong Youde (574-648 AD), a renowned Buddhist monk and scholar from the Tang Dynasty. He played a significant role in the translation and dissemination of Buddhist scriptures in China.
In more recent times, the name Kong has been carried by individuals such as Kong Lingkai (1935-2022), a Chinese mathematician and academic who made significant contributions to the field of differential geometry.
Additionally, the name Kong is also found in other cultures and languages, though its origins and meanings may differ. For example, in the Korean language, the name Kong can be written as 공 and is associated with concepts like "empty" or "void."
Overall, the name Kong has a rich history and cultural significance, particularly in Chinese tradition, where it has been associated with strength, resilience, and intellectual pursuits for centuries.
People
Kong + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kong 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
Kong: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kong?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 906 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kong 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 378,316 US residents.
Is Kong a common name?
We classify Kong as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 935 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kong most popular?
The single biggest year for Kong was 1993, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kong is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kong in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,654 people with the name Kong, or 0.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,128 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 Kong 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 Kong?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kong leans strongly male. 2,272 people counted with this name were male (85.6%), compared with 382 female bearers (14.4%). 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 Kong?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kong is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Kong most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kong in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.7% (2,593 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 Kong in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kong a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kong 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 Kong still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kong 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 Kong 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 Americans are named Kong?
See how many Americans are named Kong on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.