Kiersten
A feminine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "Christ's beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 14,348 living Americans carry the first name Kiersten. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kiersten today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kiersten births was 2005 (662 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kiersten. 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 Kiersten with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 23,889 Americans
Peak year
2005
662 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
1997 SSA rank
#3,915
Tracked since 1963
Census
Kiersten in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,426 people with the first name Kiersten, which placed it at #2,030 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
#2,030
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,426 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kiersten
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiersten is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Kiersten 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 Kiersten at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 10,575
- Black or African American9.8% · 1,313
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 648
- Two or more races4.7% · 632
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 165
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 93
Gender
Gender distribution for Kiersten
Out of the 14,784 babies given the name Kiersten since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kiersten as a male name
- Ranked #10,100 in 1997
- 5 male births in 1997
- Peak: 1997 (5 births)
Kiersten as a female name
- Ranked #3,915 in 2024
- 38 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (662 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kiersten appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,430 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kiersten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kiersten from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,652 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
Kiersten 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 Kiersten during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kierstens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Pennsylvania, California, New York recorded the most babies named Kiersten, while New Hampshire, Idaho, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 300 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kiersten
The name Kiersten is a feminine given name derived from the English surname Kiersten, which is a variant of the Irish surname Kieran. The name Kieran itself is derived from the Irish Gaelic word "ciar," meaning "black" or "dark-featured."
The name Kiersten is believed to have originated in Ireland during the Middle Ages, where it was primarily used as a masculine name. It gained popularity as a feminine name in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States, during the 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kiersten can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle dating back to the 15th century. The text mentions a man named Kieran who was a famous Irish saint and abbot of Clonmacnoise in the 6th century.
In the realm of literature, the name Kiersten appears in several works, including the novel "The Cider House Rules" by John Irving, published in 1985. In the book, one of the characters is named Kiersten Wetheral.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kiersten. One of the earliest was Kiersten Holm (born around 1290), a Norwegian noble and landowner who played a significant role in the political events of her time.
Another notable Kiersten was Kiersten Schiøler (1497-1567), a Danish Renaissance scholar and humanist who made significant contributions to the study of ancient Greek and Latin literature.
In more recent times, Kiersten Warren (born 1976) is an American actress known for her roles in television series such as "Desperate Housewives" and "Midnight, Texas."
Kiersten Hathcock (born 1988) is a former American gymnast who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she won a silver medal as part of the U.S. women's gymnastics team.
Kiersten Muir (born 1993) is a Canadian actress and singer who has appeared in several television shows and movies, including the Nickelodeon series "The Other Kingdom."
People
Kiersten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kiersten 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
Kiersten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kiersten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,348 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kiersten 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 23,889 US residents.
Is Kiersten a common name?
We classify Kiersten as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,784 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kiersten most popular?
The single biggest year for Kiersten was 2005, when 662 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kiersten is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kiersten in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,426 people with the name Kiersten, or 4.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,030 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 Kiersten 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 Kiersten?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kiersten appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,430 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Kiersten?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiersten is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Kiersten most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kiersten in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (10,575 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 Kiersten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kiersten a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kiersten 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 Kiersten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kiersten 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 Kiersten 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 common is the name Kiersten?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Kiersten, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.