Ciaran

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ciarán in SE Sweden.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ciaran is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name381 records spelled Ciaran3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, India

  Also written Ciarán, Ciáran

• Italian given name286 records spelled Ciaran3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United Kingdom, Ireland, United States

  Also written Ciarán, Ciaràn

• Swahili given name212 records spelled Ciaran4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, South Africa

  Also written Ciarán

• Russian given name187 records spelled Ciaran10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ireland, United Kingdom, United States

  Languages: Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian

  Also written Киаран, Kiaran, Ciarán, Кіяран

41 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.

Other recorded senses●

Ciaran is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Irish Gaelic name, pronounced ‘keea-rawn’ and often Anglicized as Kieran. It was originally a byname, a diminutive form of ciar ‘black’. It was borne by two

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In French, Origine irlandaise, « aux cheveux noirs ».

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

• In Spanish, third-person plural imperfect subjunctive of ciar

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

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.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 48 years between 1959–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ciaran McKeownb. 1943GBjournalist (1943-2019)
• Ciaran Maddenb. 1947GBBritish actress
• Ciaran Carsonb. 1948GBIrish poet (1948-2019)
• Ciaran O'Learyb. 1973IEIrish poker player
• Ciaran Hopeb. 1974IEIrish composer
• Ciaran Foyb. 1979IEIrish film director and screenwriter
• Ciaran Donnellyb. 1984GBEnglish footballer (born 1984)
• Ciarán Joyceb. 1987GBBritish actor
• Ciaran Clarkb. 1989GBassociation football player
• Ciaran Chambersb. 1994GBbadminton player

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).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 282 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ciaran?

We estimate roughly 2.3 thousand people bear Ciaran (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Ciaran have the most bearers?

Ciaran is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled ciaran.

How common is Ciaran compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Ciaran is the 847th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Ciaran a male or female name?

Ciaran is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ciaran mean?

Recorded meaning: Irish Gaelic name meaning 'little dark one', from ciar 'dark'.