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Kian

#401 in 2025Boys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Kian has been given to 13,568 babies in the U.S. since 1970. In 2025 it ranked #401 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 797 recorded.

Babies named Kian, 2025

1 in 4,160

Kian over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kian: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Irish

What Kian means

Kian has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Kian

One of the source’s documented entries for Kian records a meaning of king, foundation, symbol of pride.

A separate documented entry treats Kian as a variant of Cian. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Kian is used in English. Its origins include Irish.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,457 boys were recorded with the name Kian between 1970 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 797 in 2025; its best national rank was #401 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #451 in 2020 to #401 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #489 in 2015 to #401 in 2025.

In the United States, 111 girls were recorded with the name Kian between 1975 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 8 in 2023; its best national rank was #9,690 in 1981.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kian?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 4,160
797 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 2,140
0.05% of boys
Rank, 2025
#401
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
2,884 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kian sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1002%
School of 50011%

Put another way: gather 2,884 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kian. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kians were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kian was born before 2016 — so the typical Kian is around 9 today.

Median birth year
2016
About 9 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
40.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
13,457
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 40.5% of all recorded uses (5,452).

Is Kian rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+16
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+50
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+88
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.32×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (797)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
7.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#401
2025

Spellings of Kian

Kian is not the most common spelling — Brian is, with 20.9% against Kian's 0.24%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kian is used

Across 2016–2025, Kian was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 787 boys, against 1 in 2,290 across all states with data. It was least common in South Dakota (1 in 7,692).

13127 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 787
  2. 2District of Columbia1 in 1,282
  3. 3California1 in 1,449
  4. 4Washington1 in 1,493
  5. 5Massachusetts1 in 1,639
  6. 6Oregon1 in 1,695
  7. 7Virginia1 in 1,786
  8. 8Colorado1 in 1,818

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Kian is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 36% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Kian around the world

Where Kian ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #192
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1999–2025
    #144
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2000–2025
    #169
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1981–2025
    #170
    in 2025
  • France
    1992–2025
    #1,109
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #160
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #146
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1979–2013
    #499
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Kian

People whose public names include Kian, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Kian in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Kian. Linked forms have their own page here.

CianJuanJiànJiǎnYeon

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Kian by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#401
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 50
Best rank ever
#401
2025
Peak year
2025
797 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
13,457
Count in 2025
797

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#14,097
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#9,690
1981
Peak year
2023
8 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
111
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Kian

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RianElianGianKiaanLianCianArianLucianDarianEianDorianDavianKillianFabianZianAvianKylianJavianFavianKilianJianVivianAdianKiam

Names with a curve like Kian

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Kian, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

SorenRhysMatthiasAlijahZayneYusufGianniArmaniZainSantinoFinneganSullivan

Sibling names for Kian

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kian

Top names of 2025, Kian's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with K