Kourosh
A Persian masculine given name meaning "the sun".
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Kourosh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kourosh today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kourosh births was 2006 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kourosh. 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 Kourosh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
2006
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,700
Tracked since 1984
Census
Kourosh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 831 people with the first name Kourosh, which placed it at #14,225 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
#14,225
National first-name rank
People counted
831
831 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kourosh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kourosh is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.7%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Kourosh 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 Kourosh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.9% · 722
- Two or more races10.7% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 4
Popularity
Kourosh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kourosh from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 74 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kourosh 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 Kourosh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kouroshs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kourosh
The name Kourosh has its origins in the Persian language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Old Persian word "Kurush," which means "sun" or "brightness." The name was initially associated with the Achaemenid Empire, one of the most influential empires of antiquity, which ruled over a vast territory spanning from the Indus River to the Mediterranean Sea between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.
One of the most renowned figures to bear the name Kourosh was Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Born in 590 BCE, Cyrus the Great was a powerful ruler known for his military conquests, administrative skills, and respect for religious and cultural diversity. He is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Hebrew Bible, where he is portrayed as the liberator of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity.
The name Kourosh has also been mentioned in ancient Persian literature, such as the Shahnameh, the epic poem written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century CE. In this literary work, Kourosh is depicted as a wise and just ruler, embodying the ideals of Persian kingship.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kourosh. One such individual was Kourosh II, also known as Cyrus the Younger, who lived in the 5th century BCE and was a prince of the Achaemenid Empire. He attempted to seize the throne from his older brother, Artaxerxes II, but was ultimately defeated and killed in the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BCE.
Another prominent figure was Kourosh III, or Cyrus the Younger, who ruled over a region of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 5th century BCE. He is known for his successful military campaigns against the Greeks and his efforts to maintain control over the territories under his governance.
In more recent times, the name Kourosh has been carried by individuals such as Kourosh Yazdani, an Iranian painter and sculptor born in 1944, who gained recognition for his contemporary artistic works reflecting Persian culture and traditions.
Additionally, Kourosh Salehi, born in 1948, was an Iranian film director and screenwriter known for his contributions to the Iranian cinema, particularly in the post-revolutionary era.
People
Kourosh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kourosh 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
Kourosh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kourosh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kourosh 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Kourosh a common name?
We classify Kourosh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kourosh most popular?
The single biggest year for Kourosh was 2006, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kourosh is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kourosh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 831 people with the name Kourosh, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,225 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 Kourosh 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 Kourosh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kourosh appears almost entirely male. Of the 828 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 Kourosh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kourosh is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.7%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Kourosh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kourosh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (722 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 Kourosh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kourosh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kourosh 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 Kourosh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kourosh 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 Kourosh 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 Kourosh?
Find out how many people have the name Kourosh on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.