Kirby

Where Kirby comes from

Originally Kirkby, from kirk (“church”) + -by (“habitation”), "village with a church".
— Wiktionary's entry for Kirby
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1881
    First appearance
    #866 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1954
    Peak, #396
    326 babies named Kirby — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1970
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #672.
  4. 1987
    Kirby Howell-Baptiste born
    British actress
  5. 1990
    Kirby Bliss Blanton born
    American actress
  6. 2021
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Kirby Howell-Baptiste · British actress, born 1987
  • Kirby Bliss Blanton · American actress, born 1990
  • Kirby Puckett · American baseball player, 1960–2006
  • Kirby Morrow · Canadian actor, 1973–2020
  • Kirby Grant · American film and television actor, 1911–1985

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.