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
Kirby through the years
  1. 1881
    First appearance
    #866 among boys with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1954
    Peak, #396
    326 babies named Kirby, its best rank.
  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 on, more girls have.
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.