Kinston
- Gender
- Boy
- Say it
- KIN-stun
- Origin
- English
- US rank, 2025
- #9,710 for boys
Kinston is a boys' name of English origin, meaning “settlement of the king”. In 2025 it ranked 9,710th for boys in the US (7 babies).
What does Kinston mean?
English: variant of Kingston, an English place name
“settlement of the king”
A spelling of Kingston, 'king's settlement'; Kinston is also a city in North Carolina.
Is Kinston a girl's or a boy's name?
Kinston is a boys' name. In 2025, it was given to 7 boys in the US. Too few girls were given it to be listed.
How popular is Kinston in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 9,710th among boys
- Babies in 2025
- 7 about 1 in 240,000 boys
- Five-year trend
- Too rare to call too few babies to tell
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 boys
In 2025, 7 boys in the US were named Kinston, making it the 9,710th most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 7,497th. Its busiest year was 2019, with 16 boys. It first appears in the records in 1995.
It has been given to more boys each year for the last 3 years. 2025 had more boys named Kinston than any year since 2020.
Half of all the boys named Kinston in the US since 1880 were born between 2009 and 2018, the years shaded on the chart below.
Kinston in the US, year by year
| Year | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #9,710 |
| 2024 | 6 | #10,930 |
| 2023 | 5 | #12,232 |
| 2022 | 0 | – |
| 2021 | 0 | – |
| 2020 | 10 | #7,497 |
| 2019 | 16 | #5,551 |
| 2018 | 11 | #7,132 |
| 2017 | 8 | #8,835 |
| 2016 | 6 | #10,739 |
| 2015 | 8 | #8,739 |
| 2014 | 12 | #6,627 |
| 2013 | 14 | #5,919 |
| 2012 | 10 | #7,553 |
| 2011 | 10 | #7,495 |
| 2010 | 10 | #7,585 |
| 2009 | 6 | #10,989 |
| 2008 | 13 | #6,388 |
| 2007 | 8 | #8,909 |
| 2006 | 0 | – |
| 2005 | 6 | #10,144 |
| 2004 | 0 | – |
| 2003 | 0 | – |
| 2002 | 7 | #8,449 |
| 2001 | 0 | – |
| 2000 | 5 | #10,341 |
| 1999 | 0 | – |
| 1998 | 0 | – |
| 1997 | 0 | – |
| 1996 | 0 | – |
| 1995 | 5 | #8,861 |
Names like Kinston
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Kingston, Hudson, Easton, Colson, Stetson, Boston, Kayson, Kyson, Lawson, Jackson, Wesson, Axton
Names related to Kinston
More English names
Lily, Evelyn, Ivy, Harper, Grace, Violet, Willow, Daisy, Poppy, Riley, Oakley, Mason, Cooper, Ruby, Hallie, Hazel
Sources
Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Kinston: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/kinston, updated 20 October 2026.