Kea
Native Hawaiian name referring to the large parrot of New Zealand.
Name Census estimates that about 612 living Americans carry the first name Kea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kea today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kea births was 1978 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kea. 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 Kea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
612
~ 1 in 560,056 Americans
Peak year
1978
28 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,717
Tracked since 1964
Census
Kea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 885 people with the first name Kea, which placed it at #13,587 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
#13,587
National first-name rank
People counted
885
885 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kea is White at 34.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (23.4%). 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 Kea 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 Kea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.6% · 306
- Black or African American28.2% · 250
- Asian and Pacific Islander23.4% · 207
- Two or more races8.1% · 72
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Kea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kea from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 185 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
Kea 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 Kea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kea
The name Kea originates from the Polynesian Hawaiian language, where it means "the white trailing plant." The name was first used in the Hawaiian Islands, likely as early as the 8th century CE when the islands were first settled by Polynesian voyagers.
Kea is derived from the Hawaiian word 'ke'a,' which refers to a type of succulent plant found in the islands. The plant itself has white trailing stems and leaves, which is the basis for the name's meaning. Similar spellings and pronunciations can be found in other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan and Tongan.
While there are no known historical references to the name Kea in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been a common name in Hawaii for centuries. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Kea, a Hawaiian chief who lived in the late 18th century and was a contemporary of King Kamehameha I.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kea. One of the most famous was Kea, a Hawaiian warrior and navigator who lived in the late 16th century and was known for his bravery and skill in battle. Another was Kea Kekuaokalani, a Hawaiian chiefess who lived in the early 19th century and was known for her wisdom and leadership.
In more recent times, Kea Moeakiola (1890-1967) was a Hawaiian composer and musician who wrote several popular songs and helped preserve traditional Hawaiian music. Kea Pearce (1920-2018) was a New Zealand artist and sculptor known for her work in wood and stone.
Finally, Kea Tupeni (1938-2018) was a Tongan politician and diplomat who served as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga and was later appointed as Tonga's High Commissioner to Australia.
People
Kea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kea 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
Kea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 612 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kea 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 560,056 US residents.
Is Kea a common name?
We classify Kea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kea most popular?
The single biggest year for Kea was 1978, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kea 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 Kea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 885 people with the name Kea, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,587 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 Kea 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 Kea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kea leans strongly female. 770 people counted with this name were female (86.9%), compared with 116 male bearers (13.1%). 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 Kea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kea is White at 34.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (23.4%). 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 Kea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.6% (306 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 Kea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kea 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 Kea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kea 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 Kea 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 Kea as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Kea, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.