NameRealm
Kirby

Kirby: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“church settlement”
Origin
Old Norse
Say it
KER-bee · 2 syllables
Used for
Both (21% girls, 79% boys since 1880)

Transferred surname and place-name from Old Norse kirkja 'church' and býr 'farm, settlement'. It appears in many English place-names of Scandinavian origin.

English namesScandinavian namesSurname-style namesShort names

How popular is Kirby?

202437.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Kirby in 2024122

2024 rank#2,527 girls

Peak year1984

Total US babies since 188018,395

Kirby is rising: use over the last five years is 1.5× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Kirby

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Skycloud · Old Norse
  • Darbydeer settlement · Old Norse
  • Kelbyfarm by the spring · Old Norse

Kirby questions

What does the name Kirby mean?

Kirby means "church settlement". It comes from Old Norse. Transferred surname and place-name from Old Norse kirkja 'church' and býr 'farm, settlement'. It appears in many English place-names of Scandinavian origin.

Is Kirby a boy or girl name?

Kirby is used for both: about 21% of US babies named Kirby since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Kirby?

122 US babies were named Kirby in 2024. Its peak year was 1984.

How do you pronounce Kirby?

Kirby is usually pronounced KER-bee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.