# Kirby (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/kirby/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English originally for a person from Kirby.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 53,767 |
| US rank (2010) | 633 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 5,742 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (52,473 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɝbi/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Kerby |

## Etymology

Originally Kirkby, from kirk (“church”) + -by (“habitation”), "village with a church".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kirby in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 86% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Kirby in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia and the Kingdom of Great Britain.

## People named Kirby

- Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (1917–1994)
- Vanessa Kirby, British actress (born 1987)
- Bruno Kirby, American actor (1949–2006)
- William Kirby, British entomologist (1759-1850)
- Bruce Kirby, American actor (1925–2021)
- William Forsell Kirby, British entomologist (1844-1912)
- Robion Kirby, American mathematician
- William F. Kirby, American politician (1867-1934)
- John Kirby, American lawyer (1939-2019)
- Edward Kirby, American long-distance runner
- Bill Kirby, Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, world champion, former world record-holder
- Malachi Kirby, British actor

and 4 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Kerby, Karp, Krupa, Kropp, Krupp, Kropf, Korb, Krapf, Korpi.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.