Kerry

Derived from the Irish county name Ciarraí, referring to the territory of the descendants of Ciar, a name rooted in an Old Irish word for dark or black. American parents adopted it in the early twentieth century alongside the broader wave of Irish surname-to-first-name conversions. By the nineteen-fifties, it had settled comfortably on both sides of the nursery ledger.

The name suggests someone who knows how to operate an overhead projector and owns a durable windbreaker. With a median birth year in 1971, it carries the practical, unbothered posture of late Gen X. It is one of the rare names to maintain a near-perfect balance between boys and girls over a century of use. Most listeners picture an adult who solves minor logistical problems without making a speech about it.