Kyrie
Masculine · Greek roots · “Lord”
Kyrie is given to both — 18,612 boys and 4,298 girls since 1880. See Kyrie as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kyrie is a word before it is a name — the Greek vocative that opens the oldest sung prayer in Western worship, "Kyrie eleison," Lord, have mercy. It is the one line the Roman Mass kept in Greek rather than translating, so it has been sung in the same two syllables of address for well over a millennium. As a given name it arrived far more recently, and it carries that long echo lightly.
How old is the name Kyrie?
Kyrie first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Kyrie is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 18,500 people named Kyrie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kyrie most popular?
Kyrie peaked in 2017, reaching #215 nationally. Today it ranks #244, 29 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Kyrie appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From kyrios (Greek, "lord") to Kyrie
The story of Kyrie
The word belongs to ancient Greek, where kyrios meant lord or master and kyrie was how you addressed one. Early Christian worship in the Greek-speaking East used the plea Kyrie eleison, and when the liturgy of Rome moved into Latin, that petition stayed in Greek — the Kyrie became the first movement of the sung Mass and has been set to music by essentially every composer who wrote one. Its life as a personal name is much newer and largely American, and it is inseparable from the basketball guard Kyrie Irving, whose career put the spelling in front of a very large audience. The name's presence in Texas, Florida and New York reflects that recent, city-forward arrival rather than any older family tradition.
Meaning
"Lord" — literally "O Lord," a direct form of address
From Greek kyrios, "lord, master." Kyrie is its vocative case, the form used when speaking to someone, which is why it survives in the prayer Kyrie eleison — "Lord, have mercy."
Cultural footprint
Kyrie Irving (b. 1992) — NBA champion with dazzling handles
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- kyriosGreek, "lord"
- kyrieGreek vocative, "O Lord"
- Kyrie eleisonChristian liturgy
- Kyrie
Related forms: Κύριε · Kyrios · Kyree · Kyrei
Pronouncing Kyrie
KY-ree
KY-ree (rhyming with "eerie" after a long i) is the standard American pronunciation for the name, and the one the basketball player uses. Sung in church, the same spelling is KEER-ee-ay — three syllables. Expect both, and expect to correct one of them.
Nicknames for Kyrie
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 boys named
- 20171,780 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #215reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- −7.6%1,416 in 2025, from 1,533
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.
Kyrie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Κύριε in Greek — transliteration
- Kyrios in Greek — related form
- Kyree in English — spelling variant
- Kyrei in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, New York.
Kyries among us
people named Kyrie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,206 born in 2025 was named Kyrie
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 Erwin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kyrie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Erwin climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Erwin's path sketches the road Kyrie is walking now.
Kyrie 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 Kyrie is headed
Kyrie 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.
Kyrie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kyrie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, and it yields ready-made nicknames in Ky and Kye that already stand alone as names.
- The spelling is fixed and already familiar to two very different audiences: anyone who follows basketball, and anyone who has sung a Mass.
- Documented as a word since ancient Greek and in continuous liturgical use for well over a thousand years, so it has depth behind a recent arrival.
- Rare enough in classrooms that a child is unlikely to share it, while still being a spelling teachers recognize.
- Two live pronunciations compete: KY-ree from the name's American use, KEER-ee-ay from the sung prayer. Whichever you choose, some people will arrive with the other one.
- The link to one very famous basketball player is strong right now, which means the name may be read as a sports reference first — comfortable for some families, less so for others.
- It is a word of address from Christian liturgy. Many people find that moving; some churchgoers find using a prayer word as a personal name uncomfortable, and it is worth knowing which camp your relatives fall into.
- Kyrie is given to girls as well as boys in the US. Neither use is a mistake, but forms and rosters will occasionally guess wrong.
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What they receive
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Kyrie
Masculine · Greek roots · #244 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kyries are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 18,500 people named Kyrie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kyrie in 2025?
- Kyrie ranks #244 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,416 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kyrie?
- About 1 in every 1,206 US boys born in 2025 was named Kyrie — 1,416 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kyrie with classmates?
- Kyrie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kyrie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mark#244 · Ellis#243 · Milan#242 · Shepherd#246 · Ronan#247 · Adonis#241 · Warren#240 · Cade#248
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kyrie? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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