Keena
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly associated with keenness or beauty.
Name Census estimates that about 2,137 living Americans carry the first name Keena. It is a predominantly female name (94.0% of registrations). The average person named Keena today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keena births was 1972 (153 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keena. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 160,390 Americans
Peak year
1972
153 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1993 SSA rank
#9,481
Tracked since 1952
Census
Keena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,112 people with the first name Keena, which placed it at #7,275 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,275
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,112 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keena is Black at 44.7%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Keena described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Keena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.7% · 945
- White38.0% · 802
- Two or more races7.1% · 150
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 97
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 79
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Keena
Keena leans heavily female at 94.0% of total registrations, but 141 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keena as a male name
- Ranked #9,481 in 1993
- 5 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1985 (46 births)
Keena as a female name
- Ranked #10,651 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1972 (153 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keena leans strongly female. 1,938 people counted with this name were female (91.5%), compared with 180 male bearers (8.5%).
Popularity
Keena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keena from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 648 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keena by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Keena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Illinois, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Keena, while Washington, Massachusetts, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keena
The name Keena is believed to have originated from the Irish Gaelic language, where it was derived from the word "caoin," meaning "gentle" or "kind." This name gained popularity in Ireland during the medieval period, particularly among the Gaelic Irish clans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keena can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a historical chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the early 17th century. The text mentions a woman named Keena Ní Dhomhnaill, who lived in the 14th century and was a member of the powerful Ó Domhnaill (O'Donnell) clan.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Keena Ó Conchobhair was a prominent scribe and scholar from County Sligo, Ireland. He was renowned for his work in preserving and transcribing ancient Irish manuscripts, contributing to the preservation of Irish literature and history.
The name Keena has also been associated with religious figures in Irish history. In the 7th century, St. Keena (or Cainnech) of Aghaboe was a renowned Irish abbot and monastic founder who established several monasteries in Ireland, including the famous Aghaboe Abbey in County Laois.
Another historical figure bearing the name Keena was Keena O'Rahilly, an Irish revolutionary and activist who lived from 1875 to 1949. He played a significant role in the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Revolutionary Movement, fighting for Irish independence from British rule.
In more recent times, Keena Lipsitz (born 1951) is an American economist and academic who has made significant contributions to the field of labor economics and has served as a professor at various prestigious universities, including the University of California, Berkeley.
While the name Keena has its roots in Irish Gaelic culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its origins and historical significance remain deeply rooted in the rich heritage and traditions of Ireland.
People
Keena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keena as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Keena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,137 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keena going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 160,390 US residents.
Is Keena a common name?
We classify Keena as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,337 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keena most popular?
The single biggest year for Keena was 1972, when 153 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keena is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,112 people with the name Keena, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,275 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Keena in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Keena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keena leans strongly female. 1,938 people counted with this name were female (91.5%), compared with 180 male bearers (8.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Keena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keena is Black at 44.7%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Keena most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.7% (945 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Keena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keena a female name?
Yes, 94.0% of people registered as Keena in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Keena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keena in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Keena can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Keena?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.