Killian
Feminine · “Irish”
Killian is given to both — 615 girls and 16,219 boys since 1880. See Killian as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Killian is an Irish saint's name that means, roughly, church — and the church in question is the small stone cell of an early Irish monastery, not a building with pews. Saint Cillian of Würzburg took it to Germany in the seventh century, which is why the name is common in Bavaria and Alsace as well as in Ireland.
How old is the name Killian?
Killian first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Killian alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 600 people named Killian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Killian most popular?
Killian peaked in 1997, reaching #3448 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 3,685 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From cella to Killian
The story of Killian
Cillian of Würzburg was an Irish missionary bishop killed in Franconia around 689, and he is still the patron saint of the city — which gave the name a continental life entirely separate from its Irish one. In Ireland it stayed in use throughout; in France and Germany it survived through the saint. The American female entries are recent and small, peaking in 1997, and follow the general movement of Irish surname-shaped names to girls rather than any interest in the saint. Killian is male by a very wide margin everywhere it is used.
Meaningscholars disagree
Irish, from cill, "church, monastic cell", with a diminutive ending
The usual derivation is from cill, a church or monastic cell, borrowed from Latin cella, plus the diminutive -án — so "little church" or "associated with the church". A competing reading connects it to ceallach, a word variously glossed as strife or as bright-headed. The first is better supported, but Irish name scholarship has not closed the question.
How the name formed
- cella
- cill
- Cillian
- Killian
Related forms: Cillian · Killian · Kilian · Kilian
Pronouncing Killian
KIL-ee-un
Three syllables with the stress on the first. Irish Cillian is said the same way; the C in Irish orthography is always hard, so the K spelling changes nothing. French speakers say kee-lee-AHN with final stress.
Nicknames for Killian
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
- 1986
- Most girls named
- 199733 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3448reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%15 in 2025, from 12
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.
Killian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cillian in Irish — same name
- Killian in French — same name
- Kilian in German — same name
- Kilian in Breton — same name
Killians among us
people named Killian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Killian
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 Neala test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Killian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Neala climbed just as high around 1947, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Neala's path sketches the road Killian is walking now.
Killian 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
Killian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Killian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented seventh-century saint and a continuous history in three countries.
- The sound is soft despite the initial K.
- It is genuinely uncommon for girls, which is either an advantage or the whole problem.
- It is overwhelmingly a men's name in Ireland, France and Germany.
- The obvious clipping is the English word kill.
- Killian, Cillian and Kilian are three national spellings of one name.
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What they receive
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Killian
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Killians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Killian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Killian in 2025?
- Killian ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Killian?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Killian — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Killian with classmates?
- Killian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Killian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Killian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Killian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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