Kieran
Feminine · “Irish ciar”
Kieran is given to both — 1,605 girls and 17,613 boys since 1880. See Kieran as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Clonmacnoise was effectively a town before Ireland had any. Ciaran founded it in 544 on the Shannon, and within a century it was a settlement of hundreds or thousands: workshops, schools, a market, a cemetery for kings. Early Ireland had no cities, and the monasteries did the job instead.
How old is the name Kieran?
Kieran first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Kieran alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,600 people named Kieran are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kieran most popular?
Kieran peaked in 1998, reaching #2338 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 6,522 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ciar to Kieran
The story of Kieran
Irish monasteries were not enclosed communities of the continental kind. They were settlements: a church and a round tower, but also workshops, a school, guest houses, farmland, craftsmen, students and a lay population, often under the protection of a local dynasty. Clonmacnoise sat at the crossing of the Shannon and the main east-west route across the bogs, which made it a natural center of trade as well as of learning, and the kings of Connacht and Tara were buried there. At its height it may have held a few thousand people, which in a country with no towns made it one of the largest settlements on the island. It was raided repeatedly by Irish kings, by Vikings and finally by the English, and the site now holds a cathedral, several churches, two round towers and three high crosses.
Meaning
Irish ciar, dark, with a diminutive
From Irish ciar, dark or black, with the diminutive suffix -an, giving Ciaran, little dark one, a name given for hair or complexion. The same ciar element gives Ciara and, through English respelling, Keira. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who died around 545, is one of the twelve apostles of Ireland. Kieran is the standard English spelling and is chiefly male; the small female use peaks in 1998.
How the name formed
- ciar
- Ciaran
- Kieran
Related forms: Ciaran · Kieren
Pronouncing Kieran
KEER-un
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish Ciaran is KEER-awn with a fuller second vowel. The spelling Ciaran is unreadable to English speakers, which is why the phonetic form exists.
Nicknames for Kieran
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
- 1949
- Most girls named
- 200777 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2338reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%11 in 2025, from 11
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.
Kieran in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ciaran in Irish — same name
- Kieren in English — spelling variant
Kierans among us
people named Kieran are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Kieran
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 Andy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kieran's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Andy climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Andy's path sketches the road Kieran is walking now.
Kieran 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
Kieran beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kieran in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Irish meaning is settled and the saint is a major figure.
- The spelling is phonetically clear in English.
- Kier works as a short form.
- It is overwhelmingly a man's name in Ireland and everywhere else.
- Ciaran is the correct Irish spelling.
- Kieran, Kieren and Kiaran all circulate.
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What they receive
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Kieran
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kierans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Kieran are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kieran in 2025?
- Kieran ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kieran?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Kieran — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kieran with classmates?
- Kieran will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kieran
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kieran? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kieran and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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