Keniah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "toward the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 228 living Americans carry the first name Keniah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keniah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keniah births was 2006 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keniah. 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
228
~ 1 in 1,503,309 Americans
Peak year
2006
27 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,912
Tracked since 2000
Census
Keniah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 176 people with the first name Keniah, which placed it at #41,537 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
#41,537
National first-name rank
People counted
176
176 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keniah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keniah is Black at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Keniah 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 Keniah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.5% · 147
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 13
- Two or more races5.1% · 9
- White2.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Popularity
Keniah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keniah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 145 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keniah 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 Keniah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keniahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Keniah
The name Keniah is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language and culture, with its roots traced back to ancient biblical times. The meaning of the name is often associated with "possession" or "acquisition," stemming from the Hebrew word "kinyan."
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Keniah can be found in the Book of Chronicles, a historical record in the Hebrew Bible. In this text, Keniah is listed as a descendant of the tribe of Judah, suggesting the name's presence in ancient Israelite society.
Throughout history, the name Keniah has been borne by several notable individuals. One such figure was Keniah, a 9th-century BCE Hebrew prophet mentioned in the Book of Chronicles. Little is known about this prophet's life, but their inclusion in biblical texts highlights the name's significance in ancient Hebrew culture.
In the 16th century, Keniah ben Abraham Raphael Hakohen was a prominent Italian rabbi and scholar. Born in Mantua in 1515, he authored several influential works on Jewish law and philosophy, earning him a respected place in the annals of Jewish intellectual history.
Another noteworthy bearer of the name was Keniah Simons, a 17th-century English writer and political activist. Born in 1623, Simons was known for his advocacy of religious tolerance and his criticism of the English monarchy's policies towards nonconformists.
In more recent times, Keniah Olrutherford-Thompson was a 20th-century Jamaican track and field athlete. Born in 1938, she represented Jamaica in the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics, competing in various sprinting events and contributing to her country's athletic legacy.
While the name Keniah has maintained a presence throughout history, its usage has been relatively uncommon compared to other biblical names. Nonetheless, its enduring legacy spans centuries, from ancient Hebrew texts to modern-day bearers, each contributing to the rich tapestry of this name's cultural and historical significance.
People
Keniah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keniah 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
Keniah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keniah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 228 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keniah 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 1,503,309 US residents.
Is Keniah a common name?
We classify Keniah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 231 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keniah most popular?
The single biggest year for Keniah was 2006, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keniah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keniah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 176 people with the name Keniah, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,537 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 Keniah 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 Keniah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keniah appears almost entirely female. Of the 173 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Keniah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keniah is Black at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Keniah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keniah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.5% (147 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 Keniah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keniah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keniah 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 Keniah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keniah 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 Keniah 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 Keniah 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.