Keva
A masculine Scandinavian/Swedish name of unknown meaning but possibly related to "stone".
Name Census estimates that about 1,161 living Americans carry the first name Keva. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keva today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keva births was 1974 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keva. 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 Keva with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 295,223 Americans
Peak year
1974
45 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,446
Tracked since 1954
Census
Keva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,145 people with the first name Keva, which placed it at #11,291 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
#11,291
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,145 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keva is Black at 61.0%. The next largest groups are White (26.1%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Keva 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 Keva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.0% · 698
- White26.1% · 299
- Two or more races5.5% · 63
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 21
Popularity
Keva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keva 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 363 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
Keva 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 Keva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kevas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas recorded the most babies named Keva, while Illinois, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keva
The name Keva is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the second millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "kevi," which means "handsome" or "beautiful." This name was commonly used in various regions of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the northern parts of the country.
One of the earliest known references to the name Keva can be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. In the Rigveda, one of the oldest and most revered texts of Hinduism, there is a mention of a sage or rishi named Keva. However, not much is known about this individual beyond their name being recorded in the sacred texts.
In the later centuries, the name Keva gained popularity among various ruling dynasties and noble families in India. One notable figure in history who bore this name was Keva Raja, a ruler of the Nayaka dynasty who reigned over the Kingdom of Gingee (modern-day Tamil Nadu) in the 17th century. His reign was marked by significant architectural achievements, including the construction of the renowned Gingee Fort.
Another historical figure named Keva was Keva Rama Naidu, a military commander and chieftain from the Nellore region of Andhra Pradesh. He played a crucial role in the resistance against the British East India Company in the late 18th century, leading his forces in several battles against the colonial forces.
Moving further back in time, there are records of a Buddhist monk named Keva who lived during the 5th century CE in the region of present-day Afghanistan. He is credited with translating several Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese, contributing to the spread of Buddhism in East Asia.
In the realm of literature, the name Keva appears in some ancient Sanskrit texts and poetic works. One such example is the "Keva Kavya," a collection of poems attributed to a poet named Keva, who is believed to have lived during the medieval period in India.
While the name Keva has roots in the Indian subcontinent, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions over time, albeit with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation. This name has stood the test of time and continues to be used in modern times, carrying with it a rich cultural heritage and historical significance.
People
Keva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keva 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
Keva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keva 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 295,223 US residents.
Is Keva a common name?
We classify Keva as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keva most popular?
The single biggest year for Keva was 1974, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keva is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,145 people with the name Keva, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,291 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 Keva 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 Keva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keva leans strongly female. 1,109 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 36 male bearers (3.1%). 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 Keva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keva is Black at 61.0%. The next largest groups are White (26.1%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Keva most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.0% (698 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 Keva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keva a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keva 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 Keva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keva 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 Keva 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 Keva?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Keva at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.