Kyrie comes from the Greek kyrios and means "lord", best known from the liturgical prayer Kyrie eleison, "Lord, have mercy". As an American boys' name it took off with basketball star Kyrie Irving, the top NBA draft pick of 2011, who pronounces it KY-ree rather than the churchly KEER-ee-ay. Kyrie entered the US top 1000 in 2012, peaked at number 215 in 2017 and ranks number 244 among boys' names in 2025.