Humanverse

Kileen vs Kilian

American parents have registered 2,717 Kilians since 1880, against 118 Kileens. Kilian is still ahead, with 177 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kileen against Kilian, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kileen Kilian

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 56 years in which either name was published, Kilian for 46 years and Kileen for 10 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Kileen Kilian
Total US births 1182,717
Most in one year 16212
Babies in 2025 under 5177
Estimated living today 1102,700
Median age today 547
Peak year 19602023
Best rank 3,095th girls1,031st boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,166th
First recorded 19601970
Girls / boys 118 / 027 / 2,690

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kileens alive today are over 54; half the Kilians are over 7. That is 47 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kileen and Kilian.