Kerry

Where Kerry comes from

* As an English surname, from a personal name derived from Old Norse Kári. * As an Irish surname, from Ó Ciardha (“descendant of Ciardha”), from ciar (“black”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Kerry
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1921
    First appearance
    #3,869 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1960
    Peak, #158
    2,176 babies named Kerry — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1968
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #214.
  4. 2003
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A surname from Middle English derived from the place name, or from the Middle English given name Kendrick.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname or place name.
  • A female given name transferred from the surname or place name, originally of Australian usage, also spelled Keri, Kerri and Kerrie.
Namesakes

No widely known Kerry turns up in the encyclopedias yet — the name is still all theirs to make famous.

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.