Keturah
A feminine Hebrew name meaning "incense" or "fragrance".
Name Census estimates that about 3,202 living Americans carry the first name Keturah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keturah today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keturah births was 1992 (96 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keturah. 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 Keturah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,044 Americans
Peak year
1992
96 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,460
Tracked since 1890
Census
Keturah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,817 people with the first name Keturah, which placed it at #5,884 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
#5,884
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,817 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keturah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keturah is Black at 56.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.2%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Keturah 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 Keturah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.8% · 1,599
- White33.2% · 934
- Two or more races5.0% · 142
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 95
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 23
Popularity
Keturah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keturah from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 784 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
Keturah 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 Keturah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keturahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, Florida, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Keturah, while Alabama, South Carolina, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 61 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keturah
The name Keturah has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew word "qeturah," which means "incense" or "fragrance." The name first appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Keturah is mentioned as one of the wives of the patriarch Abraham.
According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham took Keturah as his wife after the death of his first wife, Sarah. Keturah bore him six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. These sons are believed to have become the progenitors of various Arabian tribes and nations.
The name Keturah holds significant meaning in the Judeo-Christian tradition, often symbolizing fertility, abundance, and the continuation of Abraham's lineage. In some interpretations, Keturah is seen as a representation of Abraham's spiritual journey, as he moved from the familiar to the unknown, embracing new experiences and blessings.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Keturah can be found in the biblical account itself, dating back to around the 2nd millennium BCE. Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore this name.
Keturah Whitford (1832-1921) was an American missionary and educator who established schools in Persia (modern-day Iran) and worked tirelessly to promote education and women's rights in the region. Keturah Stickney (1824-1890) was an American author and abolitionist who wrote extensively about the struggles of women and the abolition of slavery.
Keturah Bingham (1789-1847) was an American pioneer and early settler in Ohio, known for her bravery and resilience in the face of adversity. Keturah Chandler (1832-1892) was an American educator and women's rights activist who fought for equal educational opportunities for women in the 19th century.
Keturah Leitch (1849-1925) was a Scottish missionary and teacher who dedicated her life to educational and missionary work in India, establishing several schools and orphanages for girls in the subcontinent.
While the name Keturah is not as widely used today as it once was, it still holds a rich historical and cultural significance, particularly in the Judeo-Christian tradition and among those with an appreciation for its biblical and linguistic origins.
People
Keturah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keturah 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
Keturah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keturah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keturah 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 107,044 US residents.
Is Keturah a common name?
We classify Keturah as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,510 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keturah most popular?
The single biggest year for Keturah was 1992, when 96 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keturah is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keturah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,817 people with the name Keturah, or 0.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,884 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 Keturah 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 Keturah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keturah appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,820 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Keturah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keturah is Black at 56.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.2%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Keturah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keturah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.8% (1,599 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 Keturah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keturah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keturah 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 Keturah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keturah 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 Keturah 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 the name Keturah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.