Every Boy Name

Boy's name

Cillian

Say it KIL-ee-un 3 syllables

Irish · “possibly strife; or monastery, church”

Loved in Ireland. Common in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rare in France, England and Wales, Italy, and 18 more places.

1 in 86 boys born in Ireland in 2025. Number 9 there.

Cillian in every place

Rank, count and share in all 40 places: loved in 1, common in 2, rare in 21.
Cillian in every place we hold figures for
Place Rankyear Boysshare 5 years earlier
British Isles
England and Wales217 (up)20252301 in 1,1822382020
Scotland100 (up)2025511 in 3851502020
Northern Ireland11 (down)2025951 in 8792020
Ireland9 (up)20252761 in 86112020
North America
Ontario (province)397 (up)202432about 1 in 1,8716642019
Quebec (province)623 (new in the list)20256about 1 in 4,842Not listed2020
British Columbia (province)290 (up)202311about 1 in 1,1834742018
Nova Scotia (province)Not in the published top 212025Not listed2020
Oceania
New South Wales (state)Not in the published top 1002025Not listed2020
Victoria (state)Not in the published top 1012025Not listed2020
Queensland (state)Not in the published top 1012025Not listed2020
South Australia (state)Not in the published top 1002025Not listed2020
New ZealandNot in the published top 1002025Not listed2020
Western Europe
France1,745 (down)2025151 in 20,1791,5072020
Netherlands1,040 (new in the list)202510about 1 in 6,653Not listed2020
Central Europe
Austria1,241 (new in the list)202521 in 19,034Not listed2020
SwitzerlandRare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
Berlin (city)Rare: below the complete list2023Not listed2018
Munich (city)Rare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
Cologne (city)Rare: below the complete list2023Not listed2018
Bonn (city)Rare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
Leipzig (city)389 (new in the list)20251about 1 in 2,876Not listed2020
Rostock (city)172 (new in the list)20251about 1 in 1,047Not listed2020
Nordic countries
NorwayRare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
Sweden559 (new in the list)20259about 1 in 4,792Not listed2020
DenmarkNot in the published top 502025Not listed2020
FinlandNot in the published top 502025No list2020
IcelandNot in the published top 102025No list2020
Southern Europe
SpainNot in the published top 1002024Not listed2019
Catalonia (region)Rare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
Italy4,915 (new in the list)202411 in 189,358Not listed2019
Central and Eastern Europe
PolandRare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
HungaryNot in the published top 1002025Not listed2020
SloveniaRare: below the complete list2025Not listed2020
EstoniaNot in the published top 272025Not listed2020
Moscow (city)Not in the published top 612025Not listed2020
CroatiaNot in the published top 502025No list2020
Middle East
TurkeyNot in the published top 302025Not listed2020
IsraelRare: below the complete list2024Not listed2019
Latin America
ArgentinaNot in the published top 202024Not listed2019

Germany publishes no national list; the German rows are city registers. About: the publisher leaves out its smallest names, so the share is approximate. ▲ and ▼ compare the rank with five years earlier. Not listed five years earlier: not in that year’s list. No list: the place published no list that year. How these figures are computed.

About the name

Cillian is an Irish name, the name of an Irish saint, and its meaning is not certain. It is possibly from ceallach, "strife", or possibly from ceall, "monastery, church".

2 more paragraphs

It is said KIL-ee-un, three syllables with the stress at the start; the C is always hard, like a K. Killian and Kilian are the familiar anglicised spellings, and Kiljan is another form.

Cillian is a top-10 name in Ireland and close behind in Northern Ireland, and it has a smaller following in Scotland. It is rising in several places and falling in none. It is also spreading gently into Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria, though it remains above all an Irish choice, and in France it reached its high point only in 2023.

Meaning, origin and how to say it

Say it
KIL-ee-un · 3 syllables · Stress on beat 1 of 3.
Meaning
“possibly strife; or monastery, church” (hedged in the source)
Origin
Irish
Related names
Killian, Kilian, Kiljan
Where Cillian comes from (Wiktionary)

Irish saint's name, possibly derived from ceallach "strife" or from ceall "monastery, church".

Shortened from the Wiktionary entry for Cillian. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cillian over time

Rising in 6 of the 9 regions we can compare over five years, falling in 0. Peak in France: 2023.

Rank in England and Wales, 1996 to 2025

Cillian in England and Wales: #1,104 in 1996, a peak of #177 in 2024, and #217 in 2025.

#1#10#50#100#300#1,000#3,000#10,000200020052010201520202025Top 101996: #1,104, 12 boys1997: #2,337, 4 boys1998: #2,901, 3 boys1999: #2,943, 3 boys2000: #2,142, 5 boys2001: #1,746, 7 boys2002: #2,254, 5 boys2003: #1,962, 7 boys2004: #3,009, 4 boys2005: #1,190, 17 boys2006: #1,084, 20 boys2007: #782, 34 boys2008: #987, 26 boys2009: #760, 38 boys2010: #758, 39 boys2011: #798, 38 boys2012: #734, 45 boys2013: #730, 44 boys2014: #550, 66 boys2015: #404, 104 boys2016: #380, 119 boys2017: #324, 151 boys2018: #255, 199 boys2019: #254, 193 boys2020: #238, 202 boys2021: #274, 168 boys2022: #223, 227 boys2023: #204, 241 boys2024: #177, 285 boys2025: #217, 230 boys#1,104 in 1996peak #177, 2024#217in 2025
Show the numbers
YearRankBoys
19961,10412
19972,3374
19982,9013
19992,9433
20002,1425
20011,7467
20022,2545
20031,9627
20043,0094
20051,19017
20061,08420
200778234
200898726
200976038
201075839
201179838
201273445
201373044
201455066
2015404104
2016380119
2017324151
2018255199
2019254193
2020238202
2021274168
2022223227
2023204241
2024177285
2025217230

Source: Office for National Statistics (OGL v3)

The long view: in France

Half of the boys named Cillian in France since 1925 were born in or after 2016. Peak: 2023, about 8 per 100,000 boys. Babies per 100,000 boys, five-year periods.

1925-1929: 0 per 100,000 boys1930-1934: 0 per 100,000 boys1935-1939: 0 per 100,000 boys1940-1944: 0 per 100,000 boys19401945-1949: 0 per 100,000 boys1950-1954: 0 per 100,000 boys1955-1959: 0 per 100,000 boys1960-1964: 0 per 100,000 boys19601965-1969: 0 per 100,000 boys1970-1974: 0 per 100,000 boys1975-1979: 0 per 100,000 boys1980-1984: 0 per 100,000 boys19801985-1989: 0 per 100,000 boys1990-1994: 0 per 100,000 boys1995-1999: 0.8 per 100,000 boys2000-2004: 1.5 per 100,000 boys20002005-2009: 2.8 per 100,000 boys2010-2014: 1.5 per 100,000 boys2015-2019: 2.7 per 100,000 boys2020-2024: 6 per 100,000 boys20202025: 5 per 100,000 boys20252020-2024: about 1 in 16,750 boys
Show the numbers
YearsPer 100,000 boys
1925–19290
1930–19340
1935–19390
1940–19440
1945–19490
1950–19540
1955–19590
1960–19640
1965–19690
1970–19740
1975–19790
1980–19840
1985–19890
1990–19940
1995–19990.8
2000–20041.5
2005–20092.8
2010–20141.5
2015–20192.7
2020–20246
20255

Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms (édition 2025) (Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0). Dark bar: the period holding the median birth year.

Brothers and middle names for Cillian

Brother names

Names that rose and fell with Cillian, from the same generation, with no clashing sounds.

  1. 1 in 71, Ireland

  2. 1 in 235, Ireland

  3. 1 in 44, Ireland

  4. 1 in 195, England and Wales

  5. 1 in 460, Northern Ireland

  6. 1 in 124, Northern Ireland

  7. 1 in 143, Ireland

  8. 1 in 112, Ireland

  9. 1 in 139, England and Wales

  10. 1 in 159, Ireland

All 40 brother names for Cillian

Middle names

Scored for rhythm against Cillian's 3 syllables and for long, steady use.

  1. 1 in 50, Ireland

  2. 1 in 187, England and Wales

  3. 1 in 61, Northern Ireland

  4. 1 in 118, England and Wales

  5. 1 in 105, Ireland

  6. 1 in 130, Scotland

  7. 1 in 136, Northern Ireland

  8. 1 in 112, Northern Ireland

Full-name check

Cillian Jack

Syllables 3-1Initials C.J.No sound clashes between the parts.

All 40 middle names for Cillian

Sisters for Cillian: Aoife, Saoirse, Orla, and 5 more
  1. AoifeRose and fell with Cillian · Same generation as Cillian
  2. SaoirseRose and fell with Cillian · Same generation as Cillian
  3. OrlaRose and fell with Cillian · Same generation as Cillian
  4. NiamhRose and fell with Cillian · Irish, like Cillian
  5. CiaraRose and fell with Cillian · Irish, like Cillian · Same initial as Cillian
  6. ArabellaRose and fell with Cillian · Same generation as Cillian
  7. EsmeRose and fell with Cillian · Same generation as Cillian
  8. MaisieRose and fell with Cillian · Same generation as Cillian

Girls' names from the same engine, over the girls' lists of the same publishers.

Moved with Cillian

The boy names whose popularity rose and fell most like Cillian's across every region and decade we hold.

  1. Rare in France, England and Wales, Italy, and 19 more places.

  2. Rare in all 24 places we hold figures for.

  3. Rare in all 24 places we hold figures for.

  4. Rare across France, the UK, Italy, and 18 more places.

  5. Rare across France, the UK, Italy, and 18 more places.

  6. Rare in France, England and Wales, Italy, and 19 more places.

  7. Rare in France, England and Wales, Italy, and 18 more places.

  8. Rare in all 24 places we hold figures for.

Famous people named Cillian

Cillian Murphy and Cillian Sheridan

From Wikidata, ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article on them. People: Wikidata (CC0). Links go to Wikipedia in this page's language when an article exists, else English.

Questions about Cillian

How popular is Cillian in Ireland?

Cillian ranked #9 in Ireland in 2025, given to 276 boys, about 1 in 86.

Is Cillian rising in popularity?

Yes, in most of the places we can check. Rising in 6 of the 9 regions we can compare over five years, falling in 0. Rising in: Ontario, British Columbia, Scotland, Quebec, Rostock, and 1 other region.

What does Cillian mean?

Cillian means “possibly strife; or monastery, church”, according to Wiktionary. The dictionary itself marks this meaning as uncertain.

How many syllables does Cillian have?

Cillian has 3 syllables: KIL-ee-un.

Every rank and count on this page comes from an official birth register. How these figures are computed.

Meanings, origins and people: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikidata (CC0).

The 42 birth registers behind these figures

0kept

Kept names collect here.

Compare