Korey
A masculine given name of Celtic origin meaning "descending" or "watchful".
Name Census estimates that about 12,325 living Americans carry the first name Korey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Korey today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Korey births was 1990 (551 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Korey. 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
12K
~ 1 in 27,810 Americans
Peak year
1990
551 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,644
Tracked since 1953
Gender
Gender distribution for Korey
Korey leans heavily male at 89.0% of total registrations, but 1,413 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Korey as a male name
- Ranked #2,644 in 2024
- 50 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (507 births)
Korey as a female name
- Ranked #9,235 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (47 births)
Popularity
Korey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Korey from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 3,705 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
Korey 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 Korey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Koreys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Korey, while Maine, Idaho, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 197 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Korey
The name Korey is believed to have originated from the Greek name Korios, which means "lord" or "master." This name has its roots in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the classical period of ancient Greece.
The earliest recorded use of the name Korey can be traced back to the Byzantine Empire, where it was used as a variant of the name Kyrios, which was a title of respect given to the Byzantine emperor. During this time, the name was associated with royalty and nobility.
In the Middle Ages, the name Korey gained popularity in various European regions, particularly in France, where it was spelled as Corey or Cori. It was often used as a diminutive form of the name Coriolan, which was derived from the Latin name Coriolanus.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Korey was Cori the Fortunate, a 9th-century French nobleman who was known for his military exploits and his role in defending the kingdom against Viking raids. Another historical figure was Cori of Reims, a 12th-century French cleric who served as the Archbishop of Reims and played a significant role in the coronation of several French kings.
During the Renaissance period, the name Korey gained further popularity across Europe. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Corey de Rene, a 16th-century Italian artist and architect who was renowned for his work on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome.
In the 17th century, the name Korey was introduced to England, where it was often spelled as Cory or Corey. One notable figure from this era was Corey Giles, an English mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Korey continued to be used across various parts of Europe and North America. One notable individual was Corey Shackleton, an Irish-born American artist and explorer who was part of the famous Shackleton Antarctic Expedition in the early 20th century.
People
Korey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Korey 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
Korey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Korey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Korey 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 27,810 US residents.
Is Korey a common name?
We classify Korey as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,806 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Korey most popular?
The single biggest year for Korey was 1990, when 551 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Korey is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Korey a male name?
Yes, 89.0% of people registered as Korey 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.