Kiernan
Kiernan is given to both girls and boys: 9 girls and 34 boys were given it in 2025 (#10,515 among girls’ names and #3,408 among boys’, #6,256 among all names counting both); 2,448 Americans have been recorded with it since 1957 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,400 Americans named Kiernan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 20 years old and half are between 12 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kiernan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Kiernan?
#3,408 among boys’ names, 2025
Kiernan fell from #2,942 in 2015 to #3,408 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 20.9 to 19.9 per million.
104 babies in 2008, the peak
Kiernan peaked in 2008, when 104 babies were given it (77 boys, #1,888 among boys’ names). The 43 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 41% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,515 | 34 | #3,408 |
| 2024 | 6 | #14,409 | 39 | #3,135 |
| 2023 | 12 | #8,736 | 29 | #3,845 |
| 2022 | 14 | #7,852 | 31 | #3,659 |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,848 | 41 | #3,002 |
| 2020 | 21 | #5,755 | 33 | #3,379 |
| 2019 | 29 | #4,718 | 29 | #3,762 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,389 | 43 | #2,822 |
| 2017 | 25 | #5,252 | 54 | #2,403 |
| 2016 | 13 | #8,644 | 32 | #3,483 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 | #9,822 | 40 | #2,942 |
| 2014 | 14 | #8,289 | 42 | #2,832 |
| 2013 | 16 | #7,578 | 34 | #3,237 |
| 2012 | 11 | #10,084 | 41 | #2,889 |
| 2011 | 14 | #8,423 | 60 | #2,187 |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,071 | 74 | #1,919 |
| 2009 | 23 | #6,001 | 66 | #2,084 |
| 2008 | 27 | #5,369 | 77 | #1,888 |
| 2007 | 21 | #6,450 | 66 | #2,081 |
| 2006 | 16 | #7,685 | 49 | #2,497 |
| 2005 | 17 | #6,996 | 67 | #1,895 |
| 2004 | 19 | #6,366 | 56 | #2,116 |
| 2003 | 25 | #5,023 | 69 | #1,751 |
| 2002 | 34 | #3,848 | 67 | #1,729 |
| 2001 | 28 | #4,379 | 60 | #1,850 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,889 | 68 | #1,690 |
| 1999 | 26 | #4,384 | 48 | #2,006 |
| 1998 | 20 | #5,247 | 39 | #2,293 |
| 1997 | 17 | #5,753 | 40 | #2,187 |
| 1996 | 22 | #4,668 | 50 | #1,828 |
| 1995 | 15 | #6,114 | 34 | #2,320 |
| 1994 | 14 | #6,492 | 38 | #2,146 |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,803 | 32 | #2,370 |
| 1992 | 8 | #9,957 | 21 | #3,160 |
| 1991 | 13 | #6,791 | 20 | #3,170 |
| 1990 | under 5 | 16 | #3,697 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 14 | #3,914 | |
| 1988 | 5 | #12,809 | 12 | #4,056 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,363 | 14 | #3,433 |
| 1986 | under 5 | 7 | #5,672 | |
| 1985 | 5 | #11,533 | 10 | #4,212 |
| 1984 | under 5 | 8 | #4,781 | |
| 1983 | 5 | #11,092 | 5 | #6,807 |
| 1982 | 9 | #7,175 | 11 | #3,822 |
| 1981 | under 5 | 7 | #5,227 | |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,662 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,075 | 5 | #6,326 |
| 1976 | under 5 | 5 | #6,062 | |
| 1972 | 5 | #8,877 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 5 | #5,305 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 5 | #5,104 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 9 | #3,200 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 5 | #4,283 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Kiernan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,448 Americans recorded as Kiernan, 28% are girls and 72% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kiernan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kiernan, and how old are they?
2,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 2,448 Americans ever recorded as Kiernan. The median Kiernan alive today is 20 years old; half are between 12 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 2,153 people named Kiernan (638 women and girls, 1,515 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,144 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 42 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 403 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,270 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 682 |
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 Kiernan born?
The states with the most babies named Kiernan are New York, California and Massachusetts, with 68% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Massachusetts is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 174 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| California | 82 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Massachusetts | 29 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 23 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 21 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Illinois | 17 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Texas | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| New Jersey | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Virginia | 13 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Arizona | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Kiernan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kiernan is most over-represented in New York: since 1957 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 Kiernan 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 28,179 babies since 1880, Kiernan is the third most given (8.7% of them). In 2025 it was given to 43 of their 1,064 babies (4.0%), again the third 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 Kiernan
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 Kiernan and names like it
- Compare Kiernan and KieranBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sKiernan peaked in 2008.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kiernan since 1910.
- The top names of 2008The year the most babies were named Kiernan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kiernan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.