Find out how popular the last name Killen is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Killen.

Killen, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Killen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Killen in America

Killen is the 7968th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Killen surname appeared 4,151 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Killen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Killen to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Killen

The surname Killen is believed to have originated in Ireland, deriving from the Gaelic personal name Cillian, which means "bright-headed" or "slender and fair." The name is thought to have first appeared in the 7th or 8th century AD, during the period of early Irish Christianity.

Killen is a variant spelling of the more common Irish surname Killeen, which is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Cillín. The prefix "Ó" signifies a descendant or grandson, indicating that the name refers to the descendants of a person named Cillian.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Killen can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The Annals mention a certain "Cillene" who was the abbot of Ardbraccan, County Meath, in the year 785 AD.

In the 11th century, the name appears in the form "Cillin" in the Book of Leinster, a medieval Irish manuscript containing genealogies and historical accounts. The Book of Leinster references a "Cillin mac Conmaic," who was a member of the Uí Dúnchada, a prominent family in the ancient kingdom of Leinster.

Notable individuals with the surname Killen throughout history include:

1. Sir Thomas Killen (1640-1706), an Irish judge and politician who served as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
2. William Killen (1806-1902), an Irish Presbyterian minister and author known for his work "The Ancient Church: Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution."
3. John Killen (1858-1927), an Irish-American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas.
4. Brendan Killen (1836-1898), an Irish-born Australian Catholic priest and educator who founded several schools and colleges in Victoria.
5. William D. Killen (1917-2005), an American jurist who served as a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

The surname Killen has also been associated with various place names in Ireland, such as Killenard (County Laois) and Killenkere (County Cavan), which may have influenced the spelling variations of the name over time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Killen

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Killen.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Killen was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Killen has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Killen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Killen, please contact us.

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