Name Awesome

Kilian

#1,167 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly strife, through Killian

Kilian has been given to 2,717 babies in the U.S. since 1970. In 2025 it ranked #1,167 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 212 recorded.

Babies named Kilian, 2025

1 in 18,700

Kilian over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kilian: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly strife, through Killian

Irish

What Kilian means

Kilian belongs to the name family reached through Kilian → Killian → Cillian. Its meaning is “strife”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kilian is used in English and German. Its origins include Irish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Killian and Cillian.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Kilian is pronounced /ˈkiː.li.an/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,690 boys were recorded with the name Kilian between 1970 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 212 in 2023; its best national rank was #1,032 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,223 in 2020 to #1,167 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,337 in 2015 to #1,167 in 2025.

In the United States, 27 girls were recorded with the name Kilian between 1997 and 2019. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2011; its best national rank was #14,737 in 2019.

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 Kilian?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 18,700
177 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 9,650
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,167
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
12,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kilian 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 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 12,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kilian. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kilians were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kilian was born before 2018 — so the typical Kilian is around 7 today.

Median birth year
2018
About 7 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
40.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
88.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,690
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 40.2% of all recorded uses (1,081).

Is Kilian 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
−114
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+56
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+170
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.34×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
83.5%
Peak was 2023 (212)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,032
2023

Spellings of Kilian

Kilian is not the most common spelling — Julian is, with 60.8% against Kilian's 0.62%.

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 Kilian is used

Across 2016–2025, Kilian was most concentrated in Virginia — about 1 in 6,250 boys, against 1 in 10,405 across all states with data. It was least common in Missouri (1 in 50,000).

216 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Virginia1 in 6,250
  2. 2Washington1 in 6,667
  3. 3California1 in 8,333
  4. 4Florida1 in 8,333
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 8,333
  6. 6Massachusetts1 in 9,091
  7. 7New York1 in 9,091
  8. 8Texas1 in 10,000

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.

Kilian around the world

Where Kilian 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
    #1,226
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2019–2022
    #703
    in 2022
  • Northern Ireland
    2018–2018
    #416
    in 2018
  • Ireland
    1965–2025
    #829
    in 2025
  • France
    1972–2025
    #2,605
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1995–2024
    #886
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1952–1976
    #651
    in 1976

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 Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, 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 Kilian

People whose public names include Kilian, 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.

Kilian in other languages

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

Kélian

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

Kilian by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,167
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 56
Best rank ever
#1,032
2023
Peak year
2023
212 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,690
Count in 2025
177

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#14,737
2019
Peak year
2011
6 that year
First recorded
1997
Last recorded
2019
All-time count
27
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kilian

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

KillianVivianFavianJavianZavianDemianTavianXavianKylianTorianDerianBastianJullianCassianDavianFinnianDarrianSabianFlorianAvianWillianCillianCaspianYulian

Names with a curve like Kilian

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

CedarMacklinBastianZeusZakariLevAshCartierKabirThorinBeauxKnowledge

Sibling names for Kilian

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 Kilian

Top names of 2023, Kilian's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Boys' names starting with K