Keenan
Of Irish origin, meaning "ancient" or "born of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 17,713 living Americans carry the first name Keenan. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Keenan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keenan births was 1997 (726 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keenan. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Keenan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Keenan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 339 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,350 Americans
Peak year
1997
726 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,215
Tracked since 1942
Census
Keenan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,672 people with the first name Keenan, which placed it at #1,925 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
#1,925
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,672 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keenan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keenan is White at 47.9%. The next largest groups are Black (33.3%) and Two or More Races (8.6%). 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 Keenan 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 Keenan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.9% · 7,035
- Black or African American33.3% · 4,893
- Two or more races8.6% · 1,268
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 734
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 428
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 314
Gender
Gender distribution for Keenan
Keenan leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 339 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keenan as a male name
- Ranked #1,215 in 2024
- 166 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (717 births)
Keenan as a female name
- Ranked #16,416 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keenan leans strongly male. 14,313 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 363 female bearers (2.5%).
Popularity
Keenan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keenan from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 6,097 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keenan 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 Keenan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keenans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Keenan, while New Hampshire, South Dakota, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 304 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keenan
The name Keenan is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic name Cionaodh, which means "ancient" or "born of fire." It has its roots in ancient Celtic culture and was commonly used in Ireland during the early medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keenan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In the 9th century, a man named Cionaodh mac Scannláin is mentioned as the King of Uí Fiachrach Aidne, a medieval Irish kingdom.
The name gained popularity in the Christian tradition, as it was borne by several Irish saints and religious figures. Saint Cionaodh of Inis Endaimh, who lived in the 6th century, was a renowned Irish monk and is celebrated in the Irish martyrologies.
Throughout history, the name has been associated with notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Cionaodh Ó hArtacáin (c. 950–1031), an Irish poet and scholar from County Roscommon. Another famous Keenan was Cionaodh Ó Muirchertaigh (c. 1140–1224), a medieval Irish poet and historian from County Mayo.
In more recent times, notable individuals with the name Keenan include:
1. Keenan Wynn (1916–1986), an American character actor known for his roles in films like "Dr. Strangelove" and "Nashville."
2. Keenan Ivory Wayans (born 1958), an American actor, comedian, and writer, best known as the creator of the popular sketch comedy show "In Living Color."
3. Keenan Allen (born 1992), an American football wide receiver who plays for the Los Angeles Chargers in the National Football League (NFL).
4. Keenan Cahill (born 1995), an American internet celebrity and lip-sync artist, known for his popular YouTube videos.
5. Keenan Lewis (born 1986), a former American football cornerback who played in the NFL for teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints.
While the name Keenan has its roots in ancient Irish culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and has been adopted by people from diverse backgrounds, continuing to be a popular choice for parents around the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Keenan
People
Keenan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keenan 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
Keenan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keenan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,713 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keenan 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 19,350 US residents.
Is Keenan a common name?
We classify Keenan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,364 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keenan most popular?
The single biggest year for Keenan was 1997, when 726 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keenan is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keenan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,672 people with the name Keenan, or 4.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,925 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 Keenan 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 Keenan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keenan leans strongly male. 14,313 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 363 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Keenan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keenan is White at 47.9%. The next largest groups are Black (33.3%) and Two or More Races (8.6%). 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 Keenan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keenan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.9% (7,035 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 Keenan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keenan a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Keenan in the SSA data are male. 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 Keenan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keenan 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 Keenan 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 many people have Keenan as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.