Kirby
An English surname from several northern villages, named with the Old Norse words kirkja, meaning church, and byr, meaning settlement.
Kirby in 2025
Kirby was given to 101 babies in the United States in 2025 — 36 boys and 65 girls, making it the 3,521st most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 32,825 babies born.
The history of Kirby
Kirby reached its highest point in 1984, when 509 babies were given the name, ranking 774th that year.
Across the 145 years of records since 1881, 18,495 babies have been named Kirby. Half of them were born before 1970, which places the name's centre of gravity with Generation X.
Kirby by decade
| Decade | Babies named Kirby | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 56 | 1,080 |
| 1890s | 93 | 1,352 |
| 1900s | 88 | 1,720 |
| 1910s | 411 | 1,575 |
| 1920s | 631 | 1,520 |
| 1930s | 746 | 1,249 |
| 1940s | 1,610 | 974 |
| 1950s | 3,130 | 871 |
| 1960s | 2,459 | 911 |
| 1970s | 1,674 | 1,028 |
| 1980s | 2,802 | 774 |
| 1990s | 2,521 | 1,196 |
| 2000s | 871 | 2,594 |
| 2010s | 780 | 3,617 |
| 2020s | 623 | 3,122 |
Where Kirby is heading
Kirby has risen 22% over the past decade, from 83 babies in 2015 to 101 in 2025.
Names like Kirby
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Kirby.