Kiel
Kiel was given to 6 boys in 2025, #11,396 among boys’ names; 2,535 Americans have been recorded with it since 1961 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,410 Americans named Kiel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 32 and 43.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kiel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Kiel?
#11,396 among boys’ names, 2025
Kiel rose from #11,470 in 2015 to #11,396 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 3.1 to 3.5 per million.
287 babies in 1983, the peak
Kiel peaked in 1983, when 287 babies were given it (279 boys, #503 among boys’ names). The 6 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #11,396 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 6 | #11,725 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 14 | #6,361 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 8 | #9,456 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #10,309 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 12 | #6,842 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 11 | #7,420 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 11 | #7,398 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 15 | #5,945 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 9 | #8,512 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (59)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6 | #11,470 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 11 | #7,318 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 18 | #5,079 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 10 | #7,814 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 16 | #5,618 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #10,499 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 20 | #4,823 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #5,328 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 22 | #4,304 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 20 | #4,395 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 23 | #3,944 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 24 | #3,679 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 21 | #3,979 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 22 | #3,787 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 38 | #2,502 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 34 | #2,587 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 41 | #2,219 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 45 | #2,008 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 42 | #2,058 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 51 | #1,744 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 55 | #1,650 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 58 | #1,562 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 57 | #1,552 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 53 | #1,596 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 73 | #1,295 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 81 | #1,186 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 85 | #1,078 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 122 | #847 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 183 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1985 | 221 | #591 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 262 | #532 | 0.15 |
| 1983 | 279 | #503 | 0.16 |
| 1982 | 194 | #623 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 68 | #1,107 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 9 | #4,339 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 5 | #6,574 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,807 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,400 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 8 | #4,215 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 13 | #3,003 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 6 | #4,957 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 11 | #3,130 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 10 | #3,254 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 14 | #2,631 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 9 | #3,408 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 7 | #3,524 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 10 | #2,698 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,364 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,376 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kiel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,535 Americans recorded as Kiel, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 6 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kiel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kiel, and how old are they?
2,410 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 2,535 Americans ever recorded as Kiel. The median Kiel alive today is 40 years old; half are between 32 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 2,238 people named Kiel (64 women and girls, 2,174 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,391 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 104 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,810 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 353 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 133 |
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 Kiel born?
The states with the most babies named Kiel are California, Illinois and New York, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 226 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 129 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 96 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 85 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 83 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 61 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Texas | 54 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Indiana | 53 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Florida | 52 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Washington | 46 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Kiel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kiel is most over-represented in Illinois: since 1961 it was given 1.1 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 Kiel 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 3,106 babies since 1880, Kiel is the most given (82% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6 of their 32 babies (19%), the third most given that year.
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 Kiel
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 Kiel and names like it
- Compare Kiel and KyelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sKiel peaked in 1983.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kiel since 1910.
- The top names of 1983The year the most babies were named Kiel.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Kiel alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with KMost given first.