Kip
Kip was given to 104 boys in 2025, #1,626 among boys’ names; 8,722 Americans have been recorded with it since 1935 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,290 Americans named Kip and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 36 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kip by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kip mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kip is “a diminutive of the male given name Kipling.”
Clipping of Kipling.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kip?
#1,626 among boys’ names, 2025
Kip rose from #2,664 in 2015 to #1,626 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 24.0 to 60.9 per million.
432 babies in 1965, the peak
Kip peaked in 1965, when 432 babies were given it (419 boys, #379 among boys’ names). The 104 births of 2025 are 24% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 104 | #1,626 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 124 | #1,463 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 135 | #1,382 | 0.08 |
| 2022 | 125 | #1,452 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 101 | #1,652 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 84 | #1,794 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 97 | #1,666 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 76 | #1,946 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 74 | #1,946 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 74 | #1,965 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 46 | #2,664 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 50 | #2,497 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 33 | #3,300 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 35 | #3,209 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 21 | #4,589 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 21 | #4,611 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 22 | #4,516 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 24 | #4,203 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 23 | #4,302 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 30 | #3,483 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 25 | #3,773 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 18 | #4,698 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 30 | #3,158 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 30 | #3,053 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 25 | #3,460 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 27 | #3,182 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 32 | #2,695 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 37 | #2,367 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 32 | #2,520 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 41 | #2,089 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 44 | #1,936 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 44 | #1,909 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 38 | #2,106 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 56 | #1,587 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 68 | #1,369 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 62 | #1,421 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 55 | #1,503 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 70 | #1,216 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 56 | #1,326 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 54 | #1,340 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 80 | #1,028 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 104 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 66 | #1,102 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 99 | #902 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 126 | #776 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 118 | #811 | 0.07 |
| 1979 | 102 | #861 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 117 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 98 | #861 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 120 | #758 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 117 | #767 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 144 | #678 | 0.09 |
| 1973 | 150 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 149 | #657 | 0.09 |
| 1971 | 168 | #635 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 185 | #595 | 0.10 |
| 1969 | 210 | #542 | 0.12 |
| 1968 | 248 | #480 | 0.14 |
| 1967 | 293 | #439 | 0.17 |
| 1966 | 308 | #435 | 0.17 |
| 1965 | 419 | #379 | 0.23 |
| 1964 | 332 | #442 | 0.17 |
| 1963 | 261 | #497 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 228 | #529 | 0.11 |
| 1961 | 173 | #602 | 0.08 |
| 1960 | 167 | #605 | 0.08 |
| 1959 | 153 | #622 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 185 | #569 | 0.09 |
| 1957 | 205 | #541 | 0.10 |
| 1956 | 196 | #535 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 188 | #540 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 121 | #660 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 105 | #697 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 99 | #705 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 96 | #707 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 93 | #711 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 68 | #826 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 61 | #875 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 55 | #963 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 57 | #873 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 42 | #989 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 28 | #1,275 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 25 | #1,419 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 15 | #1,911 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,413 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 15 | #1,851 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,119 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,359 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,830 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kip a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 8,722 Americans recorded as Kip, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 104 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 Kip: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kip, and how old are they?
7,290 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 84% of the 8,722 Americans ever recorded as Kip. The median Kip alive today is 55 years old; half are between 36 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 6,755 people named Kip (256 women and girls, 6,499 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,027 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 57 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,100 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,590 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,010 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 425 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,120 |
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 Kip born?
The states with the most babies named Kip are California, Michigan and Ohio, with 31% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 603 | #2,648 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 423 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 369 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 309 | #2,006 | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 252 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 248 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 224 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Wisconsin | 215 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 198 | #1,176 | 0.4× |
| Minnesota | 167 | #877 | 0.9× |
Where Kip is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kip is most over-represented in Utah: since 1935 it was given 2.1 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 Kip 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 11,211 babies since 1880, Kip is the most given (78% of them). In 2025 it was given to 104 of their 170 babies (61%), 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 Kip
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 Kip and names like it
- Compare Kip and KippBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sKip peaked in 1965.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kip since 1910.
- The top names of 1965The year the most babies were named Kip.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Kip alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.