Kilian
Kilian was given to 177 boys in 2025, #1,167 among boys’ names; 2,717 Americans have been recorded with it since 1970 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,680 Americans named Kilian and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 4 and 15.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kilian by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kilian mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kilian is “a male given name from Irish, variant of Killian.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kilian?
#1,167 among boys’ names, 2025
Kilian rose from #1,337 in 2015 to #1,167 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.07 to 0.10 per 1,000.
212 babies in 2023, the peak
Kilian peaked in 2023, when 212 boys were given it, #1,032 among boys’ names. The 177 births of 2025 are 83% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 177 | #1,167 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 209 | #1,053 | 0.12 |
| 2023 | 212 | #1,032 | 0.12 |
| 2022 | 161 | #1,223 | 0.09 |
| 2021 | 168 | #1,176 | 0.10 |
| 2020 | 154 | #1,223 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 132 | #1,359 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 145 | #1,273 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 162 | #1,161 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 161 | #1,180 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (46)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 132 | #1,337 | 0.07 |
| 2014 | 91 | #1,686 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 41 | #2,823 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 59 | #2,224 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 40 | #2,931 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 43 | #2,810 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 47 | #2,641 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 44 | #2,771 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 36 | #3,161 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 35 | #3,126 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 26 | #3,674 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 32 | #3,118 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 21 | #4,054 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 20 | #4,123 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 32 | #2,898 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 22 | #3,705 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 25 | #3,234 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 21 | #3,553 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 20 | #3,528 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 25 | #2,976 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 25 | #2,885 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 20 | #3,401 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 20 | #3,313 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 28 | #2,571 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 16 | #3,738 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 18 | #3,389 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 12 | #4,410 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 10 | #4,613 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 6 | #5,995 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 5 | #6,903 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,454 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,514 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 6 | #5,298 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 8 | #4,133 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 6 | #4,731 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 5 | #5,106 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kilian a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kilian has been given almost only to boys: 27 girls in 46 years of records.
Girls and boys named Kilian: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kilian, and how old are they?
2,680 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,717 Americans ever recorded as Kilian. The median Kilian alive today is 8 years old; half are between 4 and 15.
The 2020 Census counted 1,715 people named Kilian (101 women and girls, 1,614 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,655 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 33 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 177 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 536 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,940 |
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 Kilian born?
The states with the most babies named Kilian are California, Texas and New York, with 49% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 27 | #873 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 16 | #1,273 | 0.7× |
| New York | 12 | #1,023 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 9 | #738 | 0.3× |
| Florida | 8 | #1,419 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #968 | 0.7× |
| Virginia | 8 | #842 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 7 | #1,091 | 0.4× |
| Maryland | 7 | #664 | 0.5× |
| Washington | 6 | #950 | 0.9× |
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 Kilian 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 43,117 babies since 1880, Kilian is the sixth most given (6.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 177 of their 2,694 babies (6.6%), the fifth 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 Kilian
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 Kilian and names like it
- Compare Kilian and KillianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sKilian peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kilian since 1910.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Kilian.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Kilian alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with KMost given first.