Ky
A Vietnamese unisex name meaning "strange" or "unusual".
Name Census estimates that about 1,571 living Americans carry the first name Ky. It is a predominantly male name (90.5% of registrations). The average person named Ky today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ky births was 1990 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ky. 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 Ky with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 218,176 Americans
Peak year
1990
48 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,257
Tracked since 1950
Census
Ky in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,967 people with the first name Ky, which placed it at #4,627 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
#4,627
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,967 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ky
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ky is Asian/Pacific Islander at 53.7%. The next largest groups are White (26.8%) and Black (11.1%). 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 Ky 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 Ky at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander53.7% · 2,132
- White26.8% · 1,063
- Black or African American11.1% · 442
- Two or more races3.7% · 146
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 128
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 56
Gender
Gender distribution for Ky
Ky leans heavily male at 90.5% of total registrations, but 154 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ky as a male name
- Ranked #4,257 in 2024
- 25 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (42 births)
Ky as a female name
- Ranked #16,485 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1998 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ky on both sides of the split. Of the 3,972 people counted with this name, 2,927 were male (73.7%) and 1,045 were female (26.3%).
Popularity
Ky: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ky from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 344 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Ky remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ky 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 Ky during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, California, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Ky, while Illinois, Oklahoma, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ky
The name Ky has its origins in the Vietnamese language, where it is derived from the word "ky" meaning "strange" or "unusual." This name likely originated during the medieval period in Vietnam, as records of its use can be traced back to the 10th century CE.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Ky can be found in the Annals of Dai Viet, a chronicle of the Ly Dynasty that ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225 CE. The text mentions a general named Ky Nguyen Trung, who led the Vietnamese forces to victory against the invading Mongol armies in the 13th century.
Another notable historical figure with the name Ky was Ky Con, a 14th-century Vietnamese philosopher and scholar who authored several influential works on Confucianism and Vietnamese culture. His writings played a significant role in shaping the intellectual and literary traditions of Vietnam during the later medieval period.
In the realm of art and literature, the name Ky is associated with Ky Huu, a celebrated Vietnamese poet and calligrapher who lived during the 17th century. His poetic works, which often drew inspiration from nature and the human experience, are still widely studied and appreciated today.
Moving forward in history, Ky Dong Truong was a prominent Vietnamese revolutionary and military leader who played a crucial role in the country's struggle for independence against French colonial rule in the early 20th century. He is remembered as a dedicated patriot and a skilled strategist who helped shape the course of Vietnam's liberation movement.
Another notable figure with the name Ky was Ky Qua, a Vietnamese-American artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his intricate wood carvings and sculptures that blended traditional Vietnamese aesthetics with modern art forms. His works have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, earning him international acclaim.
While the name Ky has its roots in Vietnamese culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other contexts and communities over the centuries, reflecting the global reach and diversity of names and their meanings.
People
Ky + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ky 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
Ky: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ky?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,571 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ky 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 218,176 US residents.
Is Ky a common name?
We classify Ky as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,628 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ky most popular?
The single biggest year for Ky was 1990, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ky 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 Ky in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,967 people with the name Ky, or 1.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,627 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 Ky 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 Ky?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ky on both sides of the split. Of the 3,972 people counted with this name, 2,927 were male (73.7%) and 1,045 were female (26.3%). 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 Ky?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ky is Asian/Pacific Islander at 53.7%. The next largest groups are White (26.8%) and Black (11.1%). 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 Ky most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ky in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (2,132 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 Ky in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ky a male name?
Yes, 90.5% of people registered as Ky 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 Ky still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ky 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 Ky 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 common is the name Ky?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.