Head to head · Boys' names
Kevin vs Kingston
#221 vs #204 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Kingston is a whisker ahead (#204 vs #221 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Kevin leads 3 measures of 6; Kingston leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Kevin #1829, Kingston #4168 — Kevin higher
- 1920s: Kevin #917, Kingston #2986 — Kevin higher
- 1930s: Kevin #471, Kingston #3649 — Kevin higher
- 1940s: Kevin #209, Kingston #3159 — Kevin higher
- 1950s: Kevin #34, Kingston #3372 — Kevin higher
- 1960s: Kevin #15, Kingston #3318 — Kevin higher
- 1970s: Kevin #15, Kingston #4682 — Kevin higher
- 1980s: Kevin #22, Kingston #5206 — Kevin higher
- 1990s: Kevin #27, Kingston #3784 — Kevin higher
- 2000s: Kevin #36, Kingston #1630 — Kevin higher
- 2010s: Kevin #88, Kingston #164 — Kevin higher
- 2020s: Kevin #188, Kingston #146 — Kingston higher
Kevin stood higher in 11 of 12 decades; Kingston took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Kevin | Kingston |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #1829 | #4168 |
| 1920s | #917 | #2986 |
| 1930s | #471 | #3649 |
| 1940s | #209 | #3159 |
| 1950s | #34 | #3372 |
| 1960s | #15 | #3318 |
| 1970s | #15 | #4682 |
| 1980s | #22 | #5206 |
| 1990s | #27 | #3784 |
| 2000s | #36 | #1630 |
| 2010s | #88 | #164 |
| 2020s | #188 | #146 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Kevin
gentle; kindly
Irish caomh means gentle, kind or beloved, and Caoimhin adds the diminutive -in, giving something like the gentle one. The derivation is well attested. It is worth noticing what the name does not say: most early medieval men's names across Europe are about battle, spears, rule or wolves, and a name meaning gentle stands out sharply against that background.
Caoimhín → Kevin
How it traveled
Kevin of Glendalough founded a monastery in a valley in Wicklow in the sixth century and is one of Ireland's principal saints; the stories about him involve a great deal of standing still in cold water and a blackbird nesting in his outstretched hand. The name stayed inside Ireland for a very long time and crossed to America with Irish emigration, becoming widely used in the middle of the last century — the first Gaelic name to do so on that scale, and the reason the rest followed.
Kingston
king's estate, royal manor
From Old English cyning (king) and tūn (enclosure, farmstead, settlement) — the same tūn that ends hundreds of English place names.
cyningestūn (Old English) → Kingston (English place name) → Kingston (surname) → Kingston (given name)
How it traveled
Kingston is an English place name, formed from cyning and tūn, and it was applied over and over to land held by the crown; dozens of Kingstons still dot the map of England. One of them, Kingston upon Thames, was the site where Anglo-Saxon kings were crowned in the tenth century.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Kevin
KEV-in
KEV-in, two syllables, stress at the front. Irish Caoimhin is closer to KWEE-veen or KEE-veen depending on the dialect, with the mh sounded as a v — so the English name is a considerable simplification of the original rather than a spelling of it.
- Kev — The front clipped, and the short form nearly every Kevin is given; a complete working name.
- Kevo — The name with an Australian-style ending, which travels further than its origin suggests.
- Vin — The back taken alone, and a standing short form of its own from an unrelated name.
Kingston
KING-stun
Stress on the first syllable. The t is barely sounded by many American speakers, giving KING-sn. Spelling and sound match closely, so it rarely needs repeating.
- King — The most common short form, and also used on its own as a given name in American records.
- Kings — Informal, mostly family and friends.
- Kingy — A young-childhood diminutive that tends not to last.
- Ston — Rare, used informally by peers rather than adults.
Who has carried each name
Kevin
Kevin Hart (b. 1979) — One of comedy's biggest box-office stars
Kevin Costner (b. 1955) — Dances with Wolves Oscar winner
Kevin Durant (b. 1988) — One of the NBA's greatest scorers
Kingston
No documented entry for Kingston yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Kevin if you want…
- a name fewer children share#221 in 2025 — kevin will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Kingston
Choose Kingston if you want…
- a name most people already know#204 in 2025, 1,725 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsKingston is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowKingston is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Kevin
Strengths
- The meaning is gentle, which almost no other men's name of its age can say.
- Kev is a clean short form that works in any English-speaking country.
- The saint behind it is a real and well-documented figure with a place still attached to him.
To consider
- A very great many people carry it, so a Kevin will rarely be the only one in a room over a lifetime.
- In France and Germany the name arrived later and carries class associations it does not carry here, which matters if the family moves.
- It is strongly associated with one American generation and dates a person fairly closely.
Kingston
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds for English speakers, and already familiar from the map — Kingston in Jamaica, in England, in Canada.
- Comes with a ready-made short form, King, which is itself an established given name in the US.
- A word with a documented Old English origin and a clear meaning, unlike many modern place-name firsts.
To consider
- The nickname King is close to inevitable, and it carries a lot. Worth deciding in advance whether you are comfortable hearing it daily.
- Almost everyone who has this name right now is a child, so it reads as distinctly of the present moment rather than age-neutral — something to weigh if you want a name that sits easily on an adult too.
- It is regularly confused in speech and writing with Kingsley and Kinsley, both in use at the same time.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Kevin
12%chance Kevin feels dated by 2040
Kevin has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Kingston
40%chance Kingston feels dated by 2040
Kingston sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Kevin and Kingston in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Kevin and Kingston?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- Baby Boomer names (born 1946–1964)
- Generation X names (born 1965–1980)
- Millennial names (born 1981–1996)
- all guides
Where Kevin and Kingston each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Kevin or Kingston — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Kevin or Kingston?
- Kingston, in 2025: Kingston ranked #204 with 1,725 babies; Kevin ranked #221 with 1,628 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Kevin or Kingston?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Kevin moved down 64 places; Kingston moved down 87 places.
- Which is the older name, Kevin or Kingston?
- Kevin entered the US charts in 1912; Kingston entered the US charts in 1919. On the American record, Kevin is the older name.
- How many people are named Kevin and Kingston?
- About 1,053,000 people named Kevin are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 46,000 people named Kingston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Kevins or Kingstons in the classroom?
- Kevin will almost certainly be the only one in school. Kingston will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Kevin, Kingston and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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