Kira
A Japanese name meaning "beam of light".
Name Census estimates that about 38,948 living Americans carry the first name Kira. It sits at #455 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kira today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kira births was 2005 (1,396 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kira. 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 Kira with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,800 Americans
Peak year
2005
1,396 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2005 SSA rank
#455
Tracked since 1938
Census
Kira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 35,457 people with the first name Kira, which placed it at #1,138 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
#1,138
National first-name rank
People counted
35K
35,457 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kira is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.1%) and Hispanic (9.7%). 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 Kira 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 Kira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 23,295
- Two or more races10.1% · 3,593
- Hispanic or Latino9.7% · 3,425
- Black or African American9.2% · 3,247
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 1,586
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 311
Gender
Gender distribution for Kira
Out of the 40,045 babies given the name Kira since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Kira as a male name
- Ranked #12,502 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1982 (6 births)
Kira as a female name
- Ranked #455 in 2024
- 684 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (1,391 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kira appears almost entirely female. Of the 35,464 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kira from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 12,096 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kira remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kira 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 Kira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kiras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Kira, while Rhode Island, Vermont, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 737 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kira
The name Kira is of Slavic origin, derived from the Greek name Kyrios, meaning "lord" or "master." It is a unisex name that has been in use since ancient times.
In Russian culture, Kira is a diminutive form of the name Kyrill, which is the Russian version of the Greek name Kyrillos. The name gained popularity in Russia during the Byzantine era, when the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Kira can be found in the Old Church Slavonic language, which was used in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The name appears in several religious texts from the 9th and 10th centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Kira. One of the earliest was Kira Georgievna (1909-1967), a Russian-born prima ballerina who danced with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.
Another famous Kira was Kira Muratova (1934-2018), a Ukrainian film director and screenwriter known for her avant-garde and unconventional style. Her films, such as "Brief Encounters" (1967) and "The Asthenic Syndrome" (1989), explored themes of alienation and social critique.
In the world of literature, Kira Navatskaya (1939-1991) was a prominent Soviet poet and translator. She was best known for her translations of works by Robert Frost and other American poets into Russian.
Kira Plastinina (born 1992) is a Russian fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded the Kira Plastinina fashion brand at the age of 16. Her brand became popular among young consumers in Russia and expanded to other countries.
Kira Yukiko Muratova (born 1980) is a Japanese voice actress known for her work in anime series such as "Naruto" and "Bleach." She has lent her voice to various characters in Japanese animation and video games.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have carried the name Kira, highlighting its enduring presence across various cultures and fields.
People
Kira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kira 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
Kira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,948 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kira 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 8,800 US residents.
Is Kira a common name?
We classify Kira as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40,045 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kira most popular?
The single biggest year for Kira was 2005, when 1,396 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kira is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 35,457 people with the name Kira, or 11.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,138 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 Kira 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 Kira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kira appears almost entirely female. Of the 35,464 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 Kira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kira is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.1%) and Hispanic (9.7%). 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 Kira most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (23,295 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 Kira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kira a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Kira 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 Kira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kira 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 Kira 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 called Kira?
You can see how many Americans are named Kira on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.