Kosta
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "constant" or "steadfast".
Name Census estimates that about 393 living Americans carry the first name Kosta. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kosta today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kosta births was 2022 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kosta. 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 Kosta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
393
~ 1 in 872,148 Americans
Peak year
2022
23 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,774
Tracked since 1960
Census
Kosta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 847 people with the first name Kosta, which placed it at #14,029 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
#14,029
National first-name rank
People counted
847
847 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kosta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kosta is White at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Kosta 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 Kosta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.0% · 779
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 30
- Two or more races2.7% · 23
- Black or African American1.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Kosta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kosta from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 132 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kosta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kosta 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 Kosta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kostas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kosta
The name Kosta originated from the Greek language and culture. It is a shortened form of the Greek name Konstantinos, which means "constant" or "steadfast." The name has its roots in Ancient Greek, where the word "konstantinos" was derived from the words "kontos," meaning "steadfast," and "statos," meaning "stable."
In the early years of Christianity, the name Konstantinos gained popularity as it was borne by several early Christian saints and martyrs. One of the most notable figures was Saint Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity in the 4th century AD. His decision to embrace Christianity had a profound impact on the spread of the religion throughout the Roman Empire.
The name Kosta is a variation of the more common Greek name Konstantinos, and it has been used in various regions of Greece, as well as in neighboring countries with Greek communities, such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia. It is believed that the name Kosta gained popularity as a shortened form during the Byzantine era, when the use of diminutive names was common.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kosta can be found in the 11th century, when a Byzantine scholar and theologian named Kostas Lykoudis lived during the reign of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Lykoudis was known for his work on the interpretation of the Gospels and his contributions to Byzantine literature.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kosta. Kosta Hetényi (1856-1942) was a Hungarian painter and art educator who played a significant role in the development of Hungarian art education in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kosta Tsiu (1920-2008) was a renowned Albanian writer and journalist, known for his contributions to Albanian literature and his advocacy for human rights.
Kosta Khetagurov (1859-1906) was a prominent Ossetian poet, writer, and public figure who played a crucial role in the development of Ossetian literature and the preservation of Ossetian culture. Kosta Novaković (1842-1915) was a Serbian politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Serbia and played a significant role in the country's foreign policy during the late 19th century.
Kosta Racin (1908-1943) was a Macedonian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Macedonian revolutionary movement. He fought for the liberation of Macedonia from Ottoman rule and is considered a national hero in North Macedonia.
People
Kosta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kosta 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
Kosta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kosta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 393 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kosta 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 872,148 US residents.
Is Kosta a common name?
We classify Kosta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 406 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kosta most popular?
The single biggest year for Kosta was 2022, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kosta is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kosta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 847 people with the name Kosta, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,029 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 Kosta 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 Kosta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kosta leans strongly male. 831 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Kosta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kosta is White at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Kosta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kosta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.0% (779 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 Kosta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kosta a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kosta 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 Kosta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kosta 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 Kosta 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 Kosta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.