Kiki
A Japanese feminine name representing the cheerful call of a bird.
Name Census estimates that about 976 living Americans carry the first name Kiki. It is a predominantly female name (97.8% of registrations). The average person named Kiki today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kiki births was 1975 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kiki. 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 Kiki with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
976
~ 1 in 351,183 Americans
Peak year
1975
42 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1985 SSA rank
#7,104
Tracked since 1920
Census
Kiki in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,413 people with the first name Kiki, which placed it at #6,602 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
#6,602
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,413 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kiki
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiki is White at 38.8%. The next largest groups are Black (27.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.0%). 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 Kiki 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 Kiki at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.8% · 937
- Black or African American27.8% · 671
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.0% · 337
- Hispanic or Latino12.6% · 304
- Two or more races5.8% · 139
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Kiki
Kiki leans heavily female at 97.8% of total registrations, but 25 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kiki as a male name
- Ranked #7,104 in 1985
- 5 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1980 (10 births)
Kiki as a female name
- Ranked #8,170 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kiki leans strongly female. 2,179 people counted with this name were female (90.3%), compared with 234 male bearers (9.7%).
Popularity
Kiki: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kiki from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 273 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kiki 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 Kiki during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kikis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Georgia recorded the most babies named Kiki, while North Carolina, Florida, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kiki
The name Kiki is believed to have originated from the Japanese language, where it is a diminutive form of the name Keiko. The name Keiko itself is derived from the Japanese words "kei," meaning "blessed" or "respect," and "ko," meaning "child."
One of the earliest known references to the name Kiki can be found in the Japanese folktale "Kiki's Delivery Service" by Eiko Kadono. Published in 1985, the story follows the adventures of a young witch named Kiki as she embarks on her mandatory year of training.
In ancient Japanese culture, the name Kiki was often associated with qualities such as strength, resilience, and determination. It was believed that giving a child a name with these connotations would imbue them with similar traits.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kiki was Kiki Musamune, a renowned Japanese swordsmith who lived during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His swords were highly prized for their exceptional craftsmanship and are considered national treasures in Japan.
Another notable figure was Kiki Dee, an English singer-songwriter born Pauline Matthews in 1947. She achieved widespread success in the 1970s with hits such as "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (a duet with Elton John) and "I've Got the Music in Me."
In the world of literature, Kiki Strike is the main character in a series of novels by Kirsten Miller, first published in 2006. The books follow the adventures of a group of eccentric teenagers led by the enigmatic Kiki Strike.
In the realm of sports, Kiki Bertens is a Dutch professional tennis player born in 1992. She has won numerous titles on the WTA Tour and reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world in 2019.
Lastly, Kiki Dimoula is a celebrated Greek poet born in 1931. Her work has been widely translated and has earned her numerous awards, including the prestigious European Prize for Literature in 2004.
These are just a few examples of the diverse array of individuals who have borne the name Kiki throughout history, showcasing its enduring appeal across various cultures and disciplines.
People
Kiki + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kiki 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
Kiki: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kiki?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 976 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kiki 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 351,183 US residents.
Is Kiki a common name?
We classify Kiki as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kiki most popular?
The single biggest year for Kiki was 1975, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kiki is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kiki in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,413 people with the name Kiki, or 0.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,602 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 Kiki 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 Kiki?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kiki leans strongly female. 2,179 people counted with this name were female (90.3%), compared with 234 male bearers (9.7%). 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 Kiki?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiki is White at 38.8%. The next largest groups are Black (27.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.0%). 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 Kiki most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kiki in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.8% (937 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 Kiki in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kiki a female name?
Yes, 97.8% of people registered as Kiki 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 Kiki still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kiki 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 Kiki 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 have the name Kiki?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.