Kiss Surname

3,113th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 181,099 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Hungary
Highest density in:
Hungary

Kiss Surname Definition:

Probably some early personal name; of kin to the German Kisch, instances of which can be found in London.

1450. Thomas Kysse, bailiff of Yarmouth: History of Norfolk.

1573. Married — Lawrence Kyshe and Bridgett Phillipson: St.

Read More About This Surname

Kiss Surname Distribution Map

By incidenceBy frequencyBy rank
Incidence (high to low)Incidence (low to high)Alphabetic A-ZAlphabetic Z-ARank (high to low)Rank (low to high)
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Hungary133,2681:747
Romania15,7621:1,274165
Russia5,5531:25,9543,645
United States5,1081:70,9598,231
Slovakia3,0151:1,77048
Germany2,4071:33,4464,417
Angola1,9721:13,6861,647
Austria1,8041:4,720524
Canada1,6771:21,9713,012
England1,0721:51,9766,395
Ghana9701:27,8563,309
Australia9621:28,0623,816
Brazil9251:231,4328,954
Czechia5221:20,3713,106
Belarus4091:23,2303,947
Saudi Arabia3981:77,52710,981
Kazakhstan3921:45,1085,848
Spain3421:136,70210,317
Tanzania3101:170,77914,990
Morocco3071:112,30019,480
Egypt3051:301,42919,796
Belgium2711:42,4236,946
Switzerland2651:30,9924,640
Argentina2491:171,66014,420
Sweden2101:46,8893,650
Netherlands1691:99,92416,231
Papua New Guinea1611:50,6446,358
France1461:454,95065,144
Italy1231:497,20950,566
Thailand1181:598,630101,799
South Africa1051:515,97841,519
Algeria981:394,20033,870
India911:8,429,290174,159
Ireland901:52,3223,722
Venezuela821:368,3427,849
Kuwait771:49,3605,585
Uzbekistan761:406,96210,029
Poland741:513,63249,911
Congo691:72,3066,384
New Zealand691:65,62810,016
Norway671:76,75110,726
DR Congo621:1,191,60673,277
Moldova591:60,3628,392
Estonia541:24,4784,454
Serbia481:148,85310,308
Portugal471:221,6658,706
Wales451:68,7676,014
Indonesia371:3,574,303189,798
Denmark351:161,27813,908
Zimbabwe301:514,60841,883
Croatia291:145,81420,021
Azerbaijan271:357,3757,700
Malta241:17,9281,021
Mexico241:5,171,92529,601
Dominican Republic231:453,60614,824
Scotland231:232,77511,829
Luxembourg211:27,6454,917
Singapore211:262,27211,611
Finland201:274,83520,939
Uruguay191:180,61914,948
Nigeria181:9,841,264197,192
Transnistria181:26,3724,484
Laos161:411,770354
China151:91,154,7714,767
Kyrgyzstan151:398,17732,433
Northern Ireland131:141,9267,751
Chile131:1,355,11323,887
Philippines131:7,787,556197,164
Qatar121:196,50026,891
Malaysia111:2,681,293102,971
Colombia101:4,777,40717,975
Armenia91:325,5767,297
Israel91:950,84857,975
Togo91:805,3086,372
Tunisia91:67,8478,246
United Arab Emirates91:1,018,03036,884
Vietnam91:10,294,0062,767
Peru81:3,973,01532,693
Turkey81:9,727,678134,647
Hong Kong71:1,047,9264,985
Gibraltar61:5,659991
Ivory Coast61:3,845,20548,272
Japan61:21,307,38248,838
Ecuador51:3,181,16927,617
Greece51:2,215,95891,893
Ethiopia41:24,386,56619,165
Georgia41:936,38624,100
Guatemala41:4,020,6677,726
Mongolia41:706,32211,365
Mozambique41:6,815,3924,272
Myanmar41:12,984,4961,309
Oman41:921,9937,313
Pakistan41:44,660,971115,884
Paraguay41:1,809,18612,346
Bulgaria31:2,326,30254,089
Cameroon31:6,923,023143,724
Latvia31:683,34934,074
Macau31:200,543803
South Korea31:17,080,0852,793
Benin21:5,167,80184,334
Bolivia21:5,308,21712,400
Liberia21:2,204,26840,131
Mauritania21:2,047,43230,537
Taiwan21:11,722,37363,559
Uganda21:19,519,640189,114
Albania11:2,914,05529,474
Bahamas11:391,7512,737
Bangladesh11:159,356,77326,077
Barbados11:287,4482,772
Botswana11:2,186,92930,250
Burkina Faso11:18,352,10030,051
Cambodia11:15,487,14614,824
Cape Verde11:529,6426,792
Cayman Islands11:63,8932,384
Costa Rica11:4,780,06913,345
Cuba11:11,522,71617,380
Cyprus11:884,87613,055
Gabon11:1,889,1946,814
Guyana11:762,22114,420
Haiti11:10,683,90724,607
Iceland11:380,09011,096
Iran11:76,782,524277,718
Jordan11:8,842,43726,010
Kenya11:46,179,900103,372
Lebanon11:5,637,08332,436
Lithuania11:3,034,58847,401
North Macedonia11:2,101,47231,546
Madagascar11:23,649,8379,420
Malawi11:17,119,10934,144
Maldives11:404,1727,269
Mauritius11:1,293,41716,552
Monaco11:37,0664,748
Namibia11:2,409,40119,676
Nepal11:28,480,95622,413
Niger11:19,192,017110,060
Saint Pierre and Miquelon11:6,399357
San Marino11:33,214932
São Tomé and Príncipe11:177,4233,686
Senegal11:14,579,34211,705
Slovenia11:2,487,67531,128
Somalia11:13,452,0619,224
Suriname11:552,6169,664
Tajikistan11:8,386,69212,859
Turkmenistan11:5,489,11211,427
Show All Nations
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland21:2,214,93333,683
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England731:333,90921,641
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States561:896,76254,350

The alternate forms: Kíss (2), Kišs (1), Kišš (904) & Kişş (4) are calculated separately.

Kiss (2,109) may also be a first name.

Kiss Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

Probably some early personal name; of kin to the German Kisch, instances of which can be found in London.

1450. Thomas Kysse, bailiff of Yarmouth: History of Norfolk.

1573. Married — Lawrence Kyshe and Bridgett Phillipson: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1765. — William Woodward and Sarah Kish: St. George, Hanover Square.

— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

(Hungarian) The small man.

— Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

This name may be derived from the last syllable of several names; as from Hotchkiss, Purkiss; for Hodgkins, Perkins. Ferguson however thinks Case, Chase, Cheese, Choice, and Kiss may be from different forms of verbs signifying to choose, as the O. S. ciasan, desen, ciosan, Anglo-Saxon cysan, ceosan, O. Fries, kiasa, Old Norse kiosa; and that this is the probable etymon of Cissa (Chissa), king of the South Saxons, who, according to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, came over to Britain A. D, 477. He says further that in Friesland, where there is a remarkable twofold coincidence between the common names of the people, our own names, and those of our early Saxon invaders, Tsjisse (Chisse) is a name in use at the present day; and that Cissa may mean "one chosen or elected."

— Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

User-submitted Reference

In England, there are at least two different origins of the surname Kiss. One of them is the Kiss/Kisse/Kysse family of Warwickshire and Leicestershire. Apparently, the origin of their surname is from the French word cuisse, also a French surname, which means, 'thigh', probably denoting a leg armorer. The other is the late Kiss/Kies family of German descent, who immigrated to England in the 1800s, and their descendants settled in London, Middlesex, and Essex. Their surname is of German origin, from Middle High German kis, meaning 'gravel', or, 'ore'. It was a topographical surname for someone who lived near a gravel. In the US, multiple surnames get changed into Kiss, like the German surname Kuss, and the Jewish/German surname Kisch.

- charlesman

Kis or Kiss is NOT the translation of the German Klein, although they have the same meaning: 'small'. It is a word of Turkish origin arriving in the Hungarian language before 1000 AD. It has similar variants in the Kazakh and Turkmenian languages. The original meaning was 'underage', 'young', 'not adult yet' - this transformed during the centuries in Hungarian to 'small'. Not only did Askenazim use this name in Hungary, although some of the families (mostly Askenazim) originally used the surname Klein, translated (or were forced to translate) their surnames to 'Kiss'.

- patakib54

Kiss or Kis is the Hungarian translation of the German/Ashkenazi surname Klein, which means 'small' or 'little'. The surnames Kiss, Kis, and Klein were also common Jewish surnames. In Hungary, Kiss is considered to be the 7th most common surname and Kis is the 26th most common among all surnames used by Hungarians today.

- laslovarga

Kiss is a very common Hungarian surname, derived from kis, meaning 'small'. The name was applied as a nickname for a person of small stature or the younger of two bearers of the same personal name.

- sgalavendo708bce

The Kiss surname is a Hungarian surname, meaning 'small man'.

- icannotfinda
DNA test information
Display Statistics on:

Kiss Demographics

Kiss Political Affiliation
in United States

Sample size: 1,077 (2014)

United States
Average

View the most partisan surnames in The United States

Kiss Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Kiss Come From? nationality or country of origin

The last name Kiss (Hindi: किस, Oriya: କିସ, Russian: Кисс) occurs more in Hungary more than any other country or territory. It may occur in the variant forms: Kíss, Kišs, Kišš or Kişş. Click here to see other potential spellings of this surname.

How Common Is The Last Name Kiss? popularity and diffusion

The last name is the 3,113th most commonly held surname globally It is held by around 1 in 40,241 people. Kiss occurs predominantly in Europe, where 91 percent of Kiss live; 87 percent live in Eastern Europe and 74 percent live in Hungaro-Europe. It is also the 163,741st most frequently occurring first name globally It is held by 2,109 people.

The last name Kiss is most commonly occurring in Hungary, where it is borne by 133,268 people, or 1 in 74. In Hungary Kiss is most common in: Budapest, where 13 percent are found, Pest County, where 11 percent are found and Hajdú-Bihar County, where 10 percent are found. Barring Hungary Kiss occurs in 143 countries. It also occurs in Romania, where 9 percent are found and Russia, where 3 percent are found.

Kiss Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The occurrence of Kiss has changed through the years. In The United States the number of people bearing the Kiss last name expanded 9,121 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it expanded 1,468 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it expanded 4,500 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Kiss Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those bearing the last name is principally Anglican (100%) in Ireland, Orthodox (84%) in Russia, Orthodox (96%) in Belarus, Muslim (100%) in Kazakhstan and Orthodox (72%) in Ukraine.

In The United States those holding the Kiss surname are 9.31% more likely to be registered Republicans than The US average, with 56.08% registered with the party.

The amount Kiss earn in different countries varies greatly. In Italy they earn 88.71% less than the national average, earning €3,391 per year; in Norway they earn 14.51% less than the national average, earning 295,869 kr per year; in South Africa they earn 35.03% more than the national average, earning R 320,892 per year; in United States they earn 7.79% more than the national average, earning $46,511 USD per year and in Canada they earn 4.6% more than the national average, earning $51,970 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

Incidence (high to low)Incidence (low to high)Alphabetic A-ZAlphabetic Z-ASimilarity (high to low)Similarity (low to high)Prevalent jurisdiction A-ZPrevalent jurisdiction Z-A
SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Kíss922/
Kišs921/
Kaiss891,989/
Kiess891,352/
Kisse89841/
Keiss89839/
Kissh8973/
Koiss8951/
Kioss894/
Kihss892/
Kishs891/
Kissň891/
Kuiss890/
Kis8632,624/
Kišš83904/
Kişş834/
Kaisse80263/
Kuisse80165/
Khisse80104/
Kishsh8069/
Koisse8064/
Keisse8048/
Kaishs802/
Khiess802/
Khaiss802/
Ciss7544,514/
Kish7518,156/
Kais759,833/
Kise757,338/
Kies756,785/
Kess756,286/
Keis752,098/
Kois751,636/
Kuis75966/
Kios75694/
Käss75342/
Kisz75238/
Khis75109/
Kihs7599/
Kyss7584/
Kjss7582/
Kkis7567/
Qiss751/
Ckis751/
Kqis751/
Kijs751/
Kissová732,884/
Kissova73397/
Kkoisse731/
Kesse6717,638/
Kaise675,476/
Kaish674,033/
Kisch671,769/
Kuijs671,182/
Khess671,101/
Kishe67705/
Kiesz67522/
Khais67510/
Keise67504/
Keuss67222/
Khise67179/
Keish67163/
Chiss67152/
Qaiss67146/
Khish6799/
Keess6783/
Kuish6755/
Koisz6752/
Kuise6748/
Keisz6748/
Keizs6746/
Kayss6745/
Kuizs6742/
Kaisz6737/
Kysse6732/
Koise6731/
Koish6730/
Kiejs6730/
Kishz6724/
Gkois6722/
Khois6721/
Cisss6719/
Koissová6719/
Kiszt6718/
Keišs6718/
Kistt6717/
Quiss6712/
Kheis6712/
Kiosz6712/
Kiesh677/
Kajss677/
Kuisz677/
Khies675/
Kkais675/
Koist674/
Kūgis674/
Caiss673/
Cuiss673/
Ceiss673/
Keass673/
Ckess672/
Kaais672/
Qisse672/
Kessz672/
Kiehs672/
Keids672/
Keyss671/
Kiosh671/
Kishh671/
Keshs671/
Kgish671/
Kejss671/
Kiesø671/
Kisseher671/
Kisssova671/
Qijss671/
Kessd671/
Kiohs671/
Show All Similar Surnames

Kiss Name Transliterations

TransliterationICU LatinPercentage of Incidence
Kiss in the Hindi language
किसkisa-
Kiss in the Oriya language
କିସkisa-
Kiss in the Russian language
Киссkiss-

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Kiss Reference & Research

Kiss/Klein FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Kiss
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis