Kirkland
A name derived from a location meaning "church land" or "church property".
Name Census estimates that about 1,936 living Americans carry the first name Kirkland. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Kirkland today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kirkland births was 1997 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kirkland. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 177,043 Americans
Peak year
1997
122 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,446
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kirkland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,893 people with the first name Kirkland, which placed it at #7,858 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
#7,858
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,893 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kirkland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirkland is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Black (37.5%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Kirkland 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 Kirkland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.8% · 1,000
- Black or African American37.5% · 710
- Two or more races4.3% · 81
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 60
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Kirkland
Out of the 2,177 babies given the name Kirkland since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Kirkland as a male name
- Ranked #9,446 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (122 births)
Kirkland as a female name
- Ranked #15,080 in 2017
- 6 female births in 2017
- Peak: 1996 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kirkland leans strongly male. 1,789 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 98 female bearers (5.2%).
Popularity
Kirkland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kirkland from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 679 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
Kirkland 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 Kirkland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kirklands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Kirkland, while West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kirkland
The given name Kirkland traces its origins to the Old English language and is derived from the words "cirice" meaning church and "land" meaning land or estate. This combination suggests that the name was likely associated with individuals who lived on church-owned lands or estates during the medieval period in England.
In its earliest recorded forms, the name appeared as "Circelund" or "Cyriclund" in various Anglo-Saxon charters and records from the 7th to 11th centuries. These variations reflect the spelling conventions and regional dialects of the time.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Kirkland was Cyriclund of Wessex, a Saxon landowner who lived in the late 9th century. He was mentioned in the Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, a collection of Anglo-Saxon charters and records.
Another notable figure was Walter de Kirkland, a 13th-century English knight and landowner from Yorkshire. He was mentioned in the Feet of Fines records, which documented land transactions in medieval England.
During the Renaissance period, Kirkland Burgess (c. 1500-1564) was a prominent English merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in London. He was a benefactor of several charitable institutions and left bequests in his will.
In the 17th century, Thomas Kirkland (1628-1698) was an English clergyman and author who served as the rector of Yoxford in Suffolk. He wrote several religious works, including "The Excellency of Humility" and "The Dignity of Christian Priesthood."
Another notable figure was John Kirkland (1770-1828), an American clergyman and educator who served as the president of Harvard University from 1810 to 1828. He was a prominent figure in the intellectual and religious life of New England during his time.
While these are just a few examples, the name Kirkland has a rich history dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period and has been borne by individuals from various backgrounds, including landowners, merchants, clergy, and educators.
People
Kirkland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kirkland 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
Kirkland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kirkland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,936 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kirkland 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 177,043 US residents.
Is Kirkland a common name?
We classify Kirkland as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,177 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kirkland most popular?
The single biggest year for Kirkland was 1997, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kirkland is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kirkland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,893 people with the name Kirkland, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,858 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 Kirkland 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 Kirkland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kirkland leans strongly male. 1,789 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 98 female bearers (5.2%). 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 Kirkland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirkland is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Black (37.5%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Kirkland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kirkland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (1,000 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 Kirkland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kirkland a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Kirkland in the SSA data are male. 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 Kirkland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kirkland 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 Kirkland 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 Kirkland as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.