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

Kiss, 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 Kiss surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kiss in America

Kiss is the 8305th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kiss surname appeared 3,990 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 Kiss.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kiss 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 Kiss

The surname Kiss is of Hungarian origin, deriving from the medieval Hungarian word "kis" meaning "small" or "little". It is believed to have originated as a nickname or descriptive name for someone of diminutive stature or young age in the 13th or 14th century.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Kiss can be found in medieval Hungarian documents and records from the 15th century. One notable example is a mention of a certain Jakab Kiss in a 1458 charter from the town of Szeged.

In the 16th century, the surname Kiss began to spread beyond Hungary to other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in areas with significant Hungarian populations or influence, such as parts of modern-day Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia.

The name Kiss is also found in various forms and spellings in historical records, including Kys, Kyss, and Kisch. These variations likely arose due to differences in regional dialects and the transcription of the name by scribes and record-keepers.

Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the surname Kiss. One early example is the Hungarian poet and writer Mihály Vörösmarty Kiss (1800-1855), who played a significant role in the Hungarian Renaissance literary movement.

Another prominent figure was the Hungarian-American engineer and physicist Theodore von Kármán (1881-1963), whose original surname was Kiss before he was ennobled and adopted the "von Kármán" name.

In the 19th century, the Kiss surname gained recognition through the work of the Hungarian composer and pianist Ernő Kiss (1799-1849), who composed numerous piano works and other pieces.

The 20th century saw the rise of the American artist and sculptor August Kiss (1911-1997), whose abstract steel sculptures can be found in various public spaces and museums across the United States.

More recently, the surname Kiss has been associated with the American rock band KISS, formed in 1973 and known for their distinctive stage persona and makeup. The band's co-founders, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, both bear the surname Kiss, though it is not their original family name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kiss

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

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 Kiss 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 Kiss 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 Kiss was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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