Popularity of the name Kevin, 1912–2025

Kevin was at its most popular in 1965, when 28,177 boys were given the name: about 1 in 66 boys born in the U.S. that year, ranking #13. In 2025, 1,628 boys were named Kevin, ranking #221. In all, Social Security counts 1,184,507 boys named Kevin since 1912. Social Security’s records also list 5,337 girls named Kevin.

Peak year

1965

Rank in 1965

#13

Babies in 1965

28,177

Rank in 2025

#221

Total since 1912

1,184,507

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name slipped from #79 in 2015 to #221 in 2025: 5,184 boys got it in 2015, and 1,628 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1970s, when 212,231 boys were named Kevin, #13 for the decade. It ranked #1,879 in the 1910s and #186 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 24 in 1920 (#1,543), 298 in 1940 (#332), 28,400 in 1960 (#15), 17,972 in 1980 (#23), 12,674 in 2000 (#32) and 2,385 in 2020 (#157).

Highs and lows

The most boys given the name in a single year was 30,613, in 1963. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more boys for 1963 than for 1965, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank in any year was #11, first reached in 1963.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1912 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 boys named Kevin, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.