Kellin
A Scottish variant spelling of the name Cailean, itself a Gaelic equivalent of Colin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,219 living Americans carry the first name Kellin. It is a predominantly male name (92.4% of registrations). The average person named Kellin today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kellin births was 2014 (110 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kellin. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kellin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kellin is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 281,177 Americans
Peak year
2014
110 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,969
Tracked since 1982
Census
Kellin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,054 people with the first name Kellin, which placed it at #11,975 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,975
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,054 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kellin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kellin is White at 64.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.1%) and Black (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kellin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kellin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.3% · 678
- Hispanic or Latino19.1% · 201
- Black or African American7.0% · 74
- Two or more races5.9% · 62
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Kellin
Kellin leans heavily male at 92.4% of total registrations, but 94 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kellin as a male name
- Ranked #2,969 in 2024
- 42 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (110 births)
Kellin as a female name
- Ranked #16,480 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1995 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kellin on both sides of the split. Of the 1,052 people counted with this name, 822 were male (78.1%) and 230 were female (21.9%).
Popularity
Kellin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kellin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 620 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kellin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kellin by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kellin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kellins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Kellin, while Virginia, Georgia, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kellin
The name Kellin is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "cyll," meaning a stream or brook. It is believed to have emerged as a surname in the 12th century, referring to someone who lived near a small body of water.
Over time, the name evolved and was adopted as a given name, particularly in the British Isles. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kellin can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, the name appears as "Kelin."
In the Middle Ages, the name Kellin was relatively uncommon but not unheard of. It is recorded in several parish records and tax rolls from the 13th to 15th centuries, primarily in the counties of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
One notable bearer of the name Kellin was Kellin de Courtenay, a French nobleman who lived in the 13th century. He was a member of the prestigious House of Courtenay and served as a knight in the service of King Louis IX during the Seventh Crusade.
Another historical figure with the name Kellin was Kellin Burges, a merchant and alderman in the city of Bristol, England, in the 15th century. He was a prominent member of the local community and played a role in the city's governance.
In the 16th century, the name Kellin gained some popularity among Puritan families in England, who were drawn to its simple, biblical-sounding quality. One example from this period is Kellin Woodstock, a Puritan minister who served in the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, in the early years of the American colonies.
Kellin Gibbons, a British soldier and explorer, was born in 1720 and is known for his travels and writings about the American West in the late 18th century. His journals provide valuable insights into the indigenous cultures and landscapes of the region.
Additionally, Kellin Wilcox, an American abolitionist and social reformer, was born in 1824. He was actively involved in the anti-slavery movement and worked tirelessly to promote the rights and welfare of African Americans.
While the name Kellin has never been among the most common given names, it has maintained a modest presence throughout history, particularly in English-speaking regions. Its association with nature and its simple, understated quality have likely contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Kellin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kellin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kellin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kellin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,219 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kellin going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 281,177 US residents.
Is Kellin a common name?
We classify Kellin as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,235 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kellin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kellin was 2014, when 110 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kellin is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kellin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,054 people with the name Kellin, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,975 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kellin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kellin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kellin on both sides of the split. Of the 1,052 people counted with this name, 822 were male (78.1%) and 230 were female (21.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kellin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kellin is White at 64.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.1%) and Black (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kellin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kellin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.3% (678 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kellin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kellin a male name?
Yes, 92.4% of people registered as Kellin in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kellin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kellin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kellin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Kellin?
Want to know how many Americans are named Kellin? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.