Kevin
Kevin was given to 1,628 boys in 2025, #221 among boys’ names; 1,189,844 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1.04 million Americans named Kevin and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 33 and 60.
Kevin is the #19 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kevin by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kevin mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kevin is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the sense “dear birth/person” (literally).
Name of a seventh-century Irish saint, from Irish Caoimhghin or Caoimhín, from Old Irish Cóemgen (literally “dear birth/person”). It first became popular outside Ireland in the mid-twentieth century.
/ˈkɛvɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kevin?
#221 among boys’ names, 2025
Kevin fell from #79 in 2015 to #221 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 2.7 to 1.0 per 1,000.
30,734 babies in 1963, the peak
Kevin peaked in 1963, when 30,734 babies were given it (30,613 boys, #11 among boys’ names). The 1,628 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,628 | #221 | 1.0 |
| 2024 | 1,825 | #196 | 1.1 |
| 2023 | 1,920 | #188 | 1.1 |
| 2022 | 2,077 | #182 | 1.2 |
| 2021 | 2,111 | #183 | 1.2 |
| 2020 | 2,385 | #157 | 1.4 |
| 2019 | 2,622 | #149 | 1.5 |
| 2018 | 3,143 | #125 | 1.7 |
| 2017 | 3,834 | #102 | 2.1 |
| 2016 | 4,557 | #90 | 2.4 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5,184 | #79 | 2.7 |
| 2014 | 5,902 | #70 | 3.1 |
| 2013 | 5,946 | #72 | 3.1 |
| 2012 | 6,232 | #69 | 3.3 |
| 2011 | 6,568 | #67 | 3.5 |
| 2010 | 7,330 | #59 | 3.8 |
| 2009 | 8,780 | #44 | 4.4 |
| 2008 | 9,798 | #41 | 4.8 |
| 2007 | 10,537 | #39 | 5.1 |
| 2006 | 10,779 | #37 | 5.2 |
| 2005 | 10,917 | #33 | 5.5 |
| 2004 | 11,220 | #34 | 5.7 |
| 2003 | 11,734 | #32 | 5.9 |
| 2002 | 12,046 | #33 | 6.2 |
| 2001 | 12,596 | #32 | 6.5 |
| 2000 | 12,674 | #32 | 6.5 |
| 1999 | 12,257 | #34 | 6.4 |
| 1998 | 12,510 | #32 | 6.5 |
| 1997 | 13,295 | #28 | 7.1 |
| 1996 | 14,589 | #26 | 7.7 |
| 1995 | 15,860 | #25 | 8.3 |
| 1994 | 17,315 | #26 | 9.0 |
| 1993 | 19,084 | #25 | 9.7 |
| 1992 | 19,647 | #25 | 9.8 |
| 1991 | 20,262 | #23 | 10.0 |
| 1990 | 20,413 | #23 | 9.9 |
| 1989 | 21,209 | #19 | 10.6 |
| 1988 | 20,168 | #20 | 10.5 |
| 1987 | 20,421 | #19 | 10.9 |
| 1986 | 19,935 | #21 | 10.8 |
| 1985 | 18,814 | #23 | 10.2 |
| 1984 | 17,858 | #24 | 9.9 |
| 1983 | 17,377 | #25 | 9.7 |
| 1982 | 17,462 | #25 | 9.6 |
| 1981 | 17,454 | #25 | 9.7 |
| 1980 | 17,972 | #23 | 10.1 |
| 1979 | 18,733 | #19 | 10.9 |
| 1978 | 20,094 | #15 | 12.2 |
| 1977 | 22,463 | #13 | 13.7 |
| 1976 | 18,474 | #15 | 11.8 |
| 1975 | 18,066 | #15 | 11.6 |
| 1974 | 19,461 | #14 | 12.4 |
| 1973 | 20,768 | #14 | 13.3 |
| 1972 | 22,354 | #13 | 13.8 |
| 1971 | 24,850 | #14 | 14.1 |
| 1970 | 26,968 | #14 | 14.5 |
| 1969 | 23,557 | #16 | 13.2 |
| 1968 | 23,862 | #17 | 13.7 |
| 1967 | 24,603 | #17 | 14.1 |
| 1966 | 25,592 | #17 | 14.3 |
| 1965 | 28,177 | #13 | 15.1 |
| 1964 | 29,357 | #13 | 14.7 |
| 1963 | 30,613 | #11 | 15.1 |
| 1962 | 28,325 | #14 | 13.7 |
| 1961 | 28,926 | #14 | 13.6 |
| 1960 | 28,400 | #15 | 13.3 |
| 1959 | 26,790 | #14 | 12.6 |
| 1958 | 24,666 | #20 | 11.6 |
| 1957 | 24,285 | #20 | 11.3 |
| 1956 | 21,761 | #22 | 10.3 |
| 1955 | 17,158 | #27 | 8.3 |
| 1954 | 15,322 | #28 | 7.5 |
| 1953 | 10,011 | #36 | 5.1 |
| 1952 | 7,916 | #43 | 4.1 |
| 1951 | 6,349 | #53 | 3.4 |
| 1950 | 4,752 | #73 | 2.7 |
| 1949 | 3,292 | #95 | 1.9 |
| 1948 | 2,225 | #127 | 1.3 |
| 1947 | 1,549 | #160 | 0.85 |
| 1946 | 1,035 | #179 | 0.64 |
| 1945 | 689 | #207 | 0.51 |
| 1944 | 594 | #231 | 0.44 |
| 1943 | 639 | #227 | 0.45 |
| 1942 | 529 | #250 | 0.38 |
| 1941 | 418 | #280 | 0.34 |
| 1940 | 298 | #332 | 0.26 |
| 1939 | 273 | #339 | 0.25 |
| 1938 | 245 | #355 | 0.22 |
| 1937 | 178 | #425 | 0.17 |
| 1936 | 153 | #455 | 0.15 |
| 1935 | 175 | #421 | 0.17 |
| 1934 | 151 | #458 | 0.15 |
| 1933 | 132 | #489 | 0.13 |
| 1932 | 122 | #529 | 0.12 |
| 1931 | 110 | #560 | 0.11 |
| 1930 | 84 | #683 | 0.08 |
| 1929 | 75 | #725 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 68 | #792 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 67 | #816 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 46 | #1,027 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 61 | #854 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 50 | #999 | 0.04 |
| 1923 | 53 | #943 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 71 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1921 | 84 | #720 | 0.08 |
| 1920 | 24 | #1,572 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,203 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,682 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 19 | #1,729 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,731 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 15 | #1,929 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,915 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,019 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,818 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kevin a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kevin has been given almost only to boys: 5,337 girls in 114 years of records.
Girls and boys named Kevin: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kevin, and how old are they?
1.04 million alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 1,189,844 Americans ever recorded as Kevin. The median Kevin alive today is 47 years old; half are between 33 and 60.
The 2020 Census counted 1,015,227 people named Kevin (1,787 women and girls, 1,013,440 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,067,389 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,450 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 227,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 314,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 284,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 167,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 42,900 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Kevin born?
The states with the most babies named Kevin are California, New York and Illinois, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 139,254 | #183 | 1.1× |
| New York | 114,900 | #201 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 68,108 | #232 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 68,081 | #178 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 61,903 | #199 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 55,510 | #231 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 51,234 | #284 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 46,721 | #217 | 1.3× |
| Massachusetts | 42,553 | #175 | 1.4× |
| Florida | 41,049 | #173 | 0.9× |
Where Kevin is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kevin is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1912 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Kevin with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,212,537 babies since 1880, Kevin is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,628 of their 1,716 babies (95%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kevin
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Kevin and names like it
- Compare Kevin and KevenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sKevin peaked in 1963.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kevin since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Kevin: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1963The year the most babies were named Kevin.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Kevin alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.