Kerry
Feminine · “of the dark-haired people”
Kerry is given to both — 48,675 girls and 49,969 boys since 1880. See Kerry as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Kerry is an Irish county, and the county is named after a people, and the people are named after a man called Ciar — whose own name meant dark. Three steps back from the map to a person.
How old is the name Kerry?
Kerry first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Kerry alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 45,000 people named Kerry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kerry most popular?
Kerry peaked in 1971, reaching #145 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 5,409 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ciar to Kerry
The story of Kerry
Irish county names became given names in the twentieth century in both Ireland and America — Kerry, Clare, Shannon, Erin — usually first for boys and then decisively for girls. Kerry was masculine in Irish and British use well into the century and crossed over in America in the 1960s, peaking for girls in the mid-1970s. County Kerry itself is the far south-west of Ireland, and the Gaeltacht there is one of the strongest surviving Irish-speaking regions.
Meaning
of the dark-haired people
From the Irish Ciarraí, 'the people of Ciar'. Ciar is a personal name from the Irish ciar, 'dark' or 'black', and in the legendary genealogies he is a son of Fergus mac Róich. The tribe took his name and the territory took the tribe's.
How the name formed
- ciar
- Ciar
- Ciarraí
- Kerry
Related forms: Ciarraí · Ciara · Kerri · Keri
Pronouncing Kerry
KER-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kerry, Kerri, Keri and Kerrie are all said identically.
Nicknames for Kerry
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1920
- Most girls named
- 19712,206 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #145reached in 1971
- Change vs 2023
- +69.2%22 in 2025, from 13
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kerry in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ciarraí in Irish — same name
- Ciara in Irish — related form
- Kerri in English — spelling variant
- Keri in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Kerrys among us
people named Kerry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Kerry
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kerry
- #5554
- Kerry on the 2025 chart
- #914
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kerry went to 22 girls in 2025, but Keri and Kerri are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 46, which makes it the 914th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,640 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 34,941 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 73,058 for Kerry itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Faye test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kerry's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Faye climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Faye's path sketches the road Kerry is walking now.
Kerry 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Kerry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kerry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real place with a documented Irish etymology reaching back to a named person.
- Bright and quick, with no pronunciation risk in any English accent.
- It works for either sex, and did so for a long time before the American shift.
- Four spellings were in simultaneous use, so it will be written wrongly often.
- In Ireland the name still reads as masculine to many people.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kerry to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Kerry? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kerry
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kerrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 45,000 people named Kerry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kerry?
- Kerry is the most-used spelling in US records — 22 of the 46 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Keri and Kerri.
- How popular is the name Kerry in 2025?
- Kerry ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kerry?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Kerry — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kerry with classmates?
- Kerry will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kerry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kerry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kerry and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle