Kylian
Of Celtic origin, a diminutive form meaning "from the slender/bright church".
Name Census estimates that about 3,277 living Americans carry the first name Kylian. It sits at #459 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kylian today is around 4 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kylian births was 2023 (950 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kylian. 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 Kylian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kylian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 4 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 104,594 Americans
Peak year
2023
950 babies that year
Average age
4
years old
2024 SSA rank
#459
Tracked since 2002
Gender
Gender distribution for Kylian
Out of the 3,299 babies given the name Kylian since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Kylian as a male name
- Ranked #459 in 2024
- 679 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (950 births)
Kylian as a female name
- Ranked #17,005 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2002 (7 births)
Popularity
Kylian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kylian from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 2,722 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kylian 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 Kylian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kylians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kylian, while New Mexico, Idaho, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 81 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kylian
Kylian is a French given name derived from the Germanic words "kuon" meaning bold or brave, and "lind" meaning serpent or dragon. It has its origins in the medieval Frankish culture of the 6th to 8th centuries AD, in what is now modern-day France and parts of Germany.
The name Kylian first appeared in written records during the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Franks from the 5th to the 8th century. One of the earliest recorded instances was Saint Kylian, an Irish missionary who travelled to Franconia (now part of Bavaria, Germany) in the late 7th century to spread Christianity.
During the Carolingian period, from the 8th to the 10th centuries, the name gained popularity among the Franks. Kylian ap Idwallo was a Welsh prince who lived in the early 7th century and is mentioned in the ancient Welsh genealogies. Another notable figure was Kylian of Wurzburg, an Irish missionary and bishop who lived in the late 7th century and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
In the 11th century, Kylian of Arles was a French nobleman and crusader who participated in the First Crusade. During the High Middle Ages, the name appeared in various spellings such as Killian, Chillian, and Killien, reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and spelling.
One of the most famous bearers of the name was Kylian Ingelram, a Flemish nobleman and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War between England and France in the 14th century. Kylian Rudinger, a German painter and printmaker, was a prominent figure in the Renaissance art world of the 16th century.
Other notable individuals named Kylian include Kylian van Rensselaer, a Dutch colonial officer and founder of the Dutch colony of Rensselaerswyck in the 17th century, and Kylian Gerber, a Swiss architect and engineer active in the 18th century.
People
Kylian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kylian 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
Kylian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kylian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,277 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kylian 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 104,594 US residents.
Is Kylian a common name?
We classify Kylian as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,299 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kylian most popular?
The single biggest year for Kylian was 2023, when 950 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kylian is about 4 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Kylian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kylian a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Kylian 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 Kylian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kylian 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 Kylian 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Kylian?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.