Killian

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Killian, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Cian
• Ciaran
• Lorcan
• Finnian
• Cormac
• Lachlan
• Niall
• Eoin
• Colm
• Declan
• Tiernan
• Conall

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Killian is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French surname25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Belgium, Cameroon

  Also written Killiãn, Kíllíãn, Kîlliân, Killiån, Kîllîan

• Spanish surname7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Killián, Kíllian, Kïllïän, Kìllian

59 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Killian is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Diminutive of ceallach ‘strife’; St Killian was an early martyr at Wurzburg.

  as a name·Irish first names

• Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Cillian.This name was borne by various early Irish saints, including the 7thcentury author of a ‘Life of St Bridget’, and missionaries to Artois and Franconia. Variant: Kilian.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• variant of Killeen, found in counties Clare and Galway.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In French, Origine celtique, « assaut du guerrier ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, Patronym zum Rufnamen Kilian < altir. killena ‚Kirchenmann‘; 372 Belege.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Gustav Killianb. 1860DEGerman laryngologist and founder of bronchoscopy (1860–1921)
• Robert K. Killianb. 1919USAmerican politician (1919–2005)
• George Killianb. 1924USAmerican basketball coach
• Elizabeth Killianb. 1939ARArgentinian actor
• Adam Killianb. 1975USAmerican pornographic actor
• Tara Killianb. 1977USAmerican actress
• Nicole Killianb. 1982USAmerican artist
• Alex Killianb. 1984USpornographic actor
• Emily Killianb. 1988USAmerican musical theatre actor
• Alex Killianactor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Killian mean, and where does it come from?

Variant of Cillian/Killian, from Irish ceall 'church' or 'war strife' in older analyses. Recorded by Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education).

In which country does Killian have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 13 thousand people named Killian, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled killian.

How common is the name Killian?

In the United States, the national register counted 12,717 people named Killian in 2010, about 1 in 26 thousand residents.