Kiran

Boys' name · Millennial-era · Sanskrit origin

Living in the US: ~5,000 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank: #1,267 among boys
Births in 2025: 172 5,041 since 1880
Typical age: 17 years, median

Kiran popularity over time

Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1970–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

Kiran was used most in 2008, when 198 babies were given the name. 1966 is the earliest year with at least five recorded births. The 2025 position is #1,267, on 172 births.

It climbed 77 places against the previous year.

Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Kiran?

An estimated 5,000 living Americans are called Kiran. SSA has recorded 5,041 births under the name since 1880. The split is about 1,800 women and 3,100 men.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Kiran?

Median age among living Kirans: 17. More of them were born in the 2000s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Kiran a millennial-era name.

Your Kiran

Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Kiran is most common

Relative to births, District of Columbia carries 9.7× the national share of Kirans. New York, Massachusetts and Washington follow.

Same as national3× or more

Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.

States where Kiran is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
State	Births	vs national rate
District of Columbia	23	9.7×
New York	120	1.8×
Massachusetts	32	1.6×
Washington	36	1.5×
California	199	1.4×

Is Kiran a boy's or a girl's name?

Share of all recorded US births under this name, 1880 to the latest year.

Mostly given to boys: 13.2% of the last ten years of births were girls. Across the whole record, 37.2% of births under the name were girls. The dominant sex is not the same at the end of the record as at the start.

Kiran in England and Wales

In England and Wales, Kiran ranked #1,538 in 2025 on 21 births. That is 24% higher than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Kiran comes from

From Sanskrit किरण (“ray of light”).

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

See how Sanskrit names are used in American and British births on the Sanskrit names page.

Notable people named Kiran

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
	Known for	Years	Editions
Kiran Desai	Indian author	1971	62
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw	Indian entrepreneur and founder of Biocon	1953	38
Kiran Bedi	First female Indian Police Service Officer	1949	33
Kiran Rao	Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer	1973	28
Kiran Badloe	Dutch windsurfer	1994	19
Kiran Rathod	Indian actress	1981	15
Kiran Shah	Kenyan actor	1956	14
Kiran Kumar	Indian actor	1953	14