Kierston
A feminine name of English origin, derived from the surname Kierston.
Name Census estimates that about 837 living Americans carry the first name Kierston. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Kierston today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kierston births was 1990 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kierston. 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.
People living today
837
~ 1 in 409,503 Americans
Peak year
1990
43 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1992 SSA rank
#6,427
Tracked since 1971
Census
Kierston in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 802 people with the first name Kierston, which placed it at #14,631 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
#14,631
National first-name rank
People counted
802
802 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kierston
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kierston is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Black (32.2%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Kierston 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 Kierston at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.2% · 467
- Black or African American32.2% · 258
- Two or more races4.9% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Kierston
Kierston leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 13 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kierston as a male name
- Ranked #6,427 in 1992
- 8 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1992 (8 births)
Kierston as a female name
- Ranked #16,441 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2001 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kierston leans strongly female. 746 people counted with this name were female (93.5%), compared with 52 male bearers (6.5%).
Popularity
Kierston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kierston from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 317 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kierston 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 Kierston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kierstons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Indiana recorded the most babies named Kierston, while Georgia, Indiana, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kierston
The name Kierston is a modern English variant of the traditional Scottish name Kieran or Ciaran. The name has its origins in the Gaelic languages, specifically the Irish Gaelic "Ciarán" and the Scottish Gaelic "Ciar," both derived from the Old Irish "ciar," meaning "dark" or "black."
This name's roots can be traced back to ancient Celtic cultures and their reverence for nature. The connection to the word "dark" may have initially referred to dark hair, complexion, or the darkness of the night. It was a common practice among Celtic tribes to name individuals after physical traits or natural elements.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Kieran can be found in the hagiography of Saint Ciaran of Saighir, a 5th-century Irish missionary and monastic founder. Another notable figure was Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who lived in the 6th century and established the famous monastery of Clonmacnoise in County Offaly, Ireland.
Throughout history, the name has been borne by various influential individuals. Ciaran Mac Mathghamhna (c. 1145–1224) was a renowned Irish poet and chief ollamh (highest rank of poets) of Ireland. Ciaran Carson (1948–2019) was a celebrated Northern Irish poet, novelist, and translator.
In Scotland, the name has a long tradition as well. Ciaran Hingston (1815–1886) was a Scottish physician and writer who served as the personal physician to Queen Victoria. Kieran Tierney (born 1997) is a professional Scottish footballer currently playing for Arsenal F.C. in the English Premier League.
The variant spelling "Kierston" emerged more recently, likely as a feminine form of the traditionally masculine name Kieran. While not as widely used historically, it has gained popularity in recent decades as a unique and distinctive name choice.
People
Kierston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kierston 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
Kierston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kierston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 837 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kierston 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 409,503 US residents.
Is Kierston a common name?
We classify Kierston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 862 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kierston most popular?
The single biggest year for Kierston was 1990, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kierston is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kierston in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 802 people with the name Kierston, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,631 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 Kierston 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 Kierston?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kierston leans strongly female. 746 people counted with this name were female (93.5%), compared with 52 male bearers (6.5%). 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 Kierston?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kierston is White at 58.2%. The next largest groups are Black (32.2%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Kierston most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kierston in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.2% (467 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 Kierston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kierston a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Kierston 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 Kierston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kierston 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 Kierston 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 Americans are named Kierston?
Find out how many people have the name Kierston on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.