Kiel

Where Kiel comes from

Kiel hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1944
    Kiel Martin born
    American actor
  2. 1961
    First appearance
    #4,065 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1983
    Peak, #502
    279 babies named Kiel — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1986
    Kiel Reijnen born
    American cyclist
  5. 1987
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #846.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Kiel Reijnen · American cyclist, born 1986
  • Kiel Martin · American actor, 1944–1990
  • Kiel McLeod · Canadian ice hockey player, born 1982

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.