Kianna
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 8,421 living Americans carry the first name Kianna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kianna today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kianna births was 2000 (401 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kianna. 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 Kianna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.4K
~ 1 in 40,702 Americans
Peak year
2000
401 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,588
Tracked since 1971
Census
Kianna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,840 people with the first name Kianna, which placed it at #3,179 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
#3,179
National first-name rank
People counted
6.8K
6,840 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kianna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kianna is Black at 35.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.9%) and White (21.3%). 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 Kianna 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 Kianna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.9% · 2,458
- Hispanic or Latino24.9% · 1,704
- White21.3% · 1,457
- Two or more races12.5% · 855
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 249
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 117
Popularity
Kianna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kianna from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,267 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kianna 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 Kianna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kiannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kianna, while District of Columbia, Maine, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 142 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kianna
The name Kianna is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the word "kianos," meaning "blue" or "sky-colored." It is believed to have emerged in the late 20th century, likely as a combination of the names Kia and Anna.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kianna dates back to the 1970s, though it did not gain widespread popularity until the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some of the earliest known bearers of the name include Kianna Wibunsin, a Thai actress born in 1971, and Kianna Aaliyah, an American singer and songwriter born in 1984.
In ancient Greek mythology, the name Kianna may have been associated with the goddess Kyanê, a minor deity who personified the color blue. However, there is no direct historical evidence linking the modern name Kianna to this mythological figure.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Kianna. One of the most famous is Kianna Dior, an American reality television personality and model who rose to prominence in the early 2010s. Another is Kianna Naomi, an American singer and songwriter who has released several albums since the late 2000s.
Other noteworthy individuals with the name Kianna include Kianna Bradley, an American basketball player who played for the University of Connecticut in the early 2000s, and Kianna Ziz, a Canadian actress and model known for her roles in various television shows and films in the 2010s.
While the name Kianna has Greek roots, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions, particularly in North America and Europe, in recent decades. Its association with the color blue and its melodic sound have contributed to its appeal as a modern and unique given name.
People
Kianna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kianna 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
Kianna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kianna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,421 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kianna 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 40,702 US residents.
Is Kianna a common name?
We classify Kianna as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,604 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kianna most popular?
The single biggest year for Kianna was 2000, when 401 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kianna is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kianna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,840 people with the name Kianna, or 2.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,179 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 Kianna 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 Kianna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kianna appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,839 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kianna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kianna is Black at 35.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.9%) and White (21.3%). 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 Kianna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kianna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.9% (2,458 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 Kianna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kianna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kianna in the SSA data are female. 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 Kianna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kianna 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 Kianna 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 share the name Kianna?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.