Kerry
Masculine · “of the dark-haired people”
Kerry is given to both — 49,969 boys and 48,675 girls since 1880. See Kerry as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kerry is an Irish county named after a people, and the people 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 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Kerry alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 40,000 people named Kerry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kerry most popular?
Kerry peaked in 1960, reaching #158 nationally. Today it ranks #2451, 2,293 places below that high. See the whole 1960 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ciar to Kerry
The story of Kerry
County Kerry is the far south-west of Ireland and holds one of the strongest surviving Irish-speaking regions. Irish county names became given names in the twentieth century — Kerry, Clare, Shannon, Erin — for boys first in Ireland and Britain, then decisively for girls in America. Masculine Kerry peaked in American records in the mid-1960s.
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 · Ciarán · Kerri
Pronouncing Kerry
KER-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
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
- 1921
- Most boys named
- 19612,027 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #158reached in 1960
- Change vs 2023
- +57.1%55 in 2025, from 35
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 — related form
- Ciarán in Irish — related form
- Kerri in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Kerrys among us
people named Kerry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 31,056 born in 2025 was named Kerry
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Wilbert 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: Wilbert climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wilbert'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
Where Kerry is headed
Kerry should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Kerry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kerry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real place with a documented etymology reaching back to a named person.
- It has a genuine masculine record in Ireland and Britain, not merely a theoretical one.
- Bright and quick, with no pronunciation risk in any accent.
- In America the name now reads as feminine to most people.
- Several spellings are in use and none of them settles the sex.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kerry to the vote.
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What they receive
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Kerry
Masculine · #2451 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 40,000 people named Kerry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kerry in 2025?
- Kerry ranks #2451 among US boy names in 2025, with 55 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kerry?
- About 1 in every 31,056 US boys born in 2025 was named Kerry — 55 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.
Zaydan#2451 · Zaxton#2451 · Sebastien#2451 · Yuvraj#2451 · Zyir#2451 · Raymundo#2451 · Ike#2451 · Keelan#2451
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.
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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
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