Kirby
Masculine · “church settlement”
Kirby is given to both — 14,532 boys and 3,963 girls since 1880. See Kirby as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kirby is a Norse place name that England kept: a village with a church, from the Old Norse words the Vikings brought with them. There are Kirbys and Kirkbys all across the north of England where the Danes settled.
How old is the name Kirby?
Kirby first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Kirby alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 10,500 people named Kirby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kirby most popular?
Kirby peaked in 1954, reaching #396 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 2,844 places below that high. See the whole 1954 chart.
Where it comes from
From Kirkjubyr to Kirby
The story of Kirby
Scandinavian settlement in the ninth and tenth centuries left its vocabulary all over northern English place names, and -by is the clearest marker of it — wherever you find one, Norse speakers once farmed. Kirkby and Kirby name the settlement that had the church. Families took the name and carried it to America, where it moved into given-name use in the twentieth century, well before the general fashion for surnames as first names.
Meaning
church settlement
From Old Norse kirkja, a church, and byr, a farmstead or village; the same second element closes Derby, Whitby and Rugby.
How the name formed
- Kirkjubyr
- Kirkby
- Kirby
Related forms: Kirkby · Kirkeby
Pronouncing Kirby
KUR-bee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Kirby
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
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 1958342 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #396reached in 1954
- Change vs 2022
- −18.2%36 in 2025, from 44
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.
Kirby in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kirkby in English — spelling variant
- Kirkeby in Norwegian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Minnesota.
Kirbys among us
people named Kirby are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Kirby
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 Everette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kirby's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Everette climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Everette's path sketches the road Kirby is walking now.
Kirby 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 Kirby is headed
Kirby 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.
Kirby beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kirby in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning drawn from a real and well-documented layer of English history.
- Two syllables, five letters, and never mispronounced.
- It has been in American given-name use for generations, so it is not a recent experiment.
- A very well-known video-game character shares the name, and children will mention it.
- The vacuum-cleaner brand is a second association for older Americans.
- Kirby and Kirkby are both real and the longer one will occasionally be assumed.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kirby
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kirbys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Kirby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kirby in 2025?
- Kirby ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kirby?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Kirby — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kirby with classmates?
- Kirby will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kirby
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Pace#3240 · Stoney#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kirby? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kirby 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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