Keagan
An Irish baby name meaning "little fiery one" or "resembling fire".
Name Census estimates that about 10,275 living Americans carry the first name Keagan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Keagan today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keagan births was 2008 (658 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keagan. 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 Keagan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Keagan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 33,358 Americans
Peak year
2008
658 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,620
Tracked since 1977
Census
Keagan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,769 people with the first name Keagan, which placed it at #2,679 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
#2,679
National first-name rank
People counted
8.8K
8,769 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keagan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keagan is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.3%) and Black (4.5%). 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 Keagan 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 Keagan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.8% · 7,172
- Two or more races7.3% · 639
- Black or African American4.5% · 395
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 392
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 87
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 84
Gender
Gender distribution for Keagan
Keagan leans heavily male at 83.4% of total registrations, but 1,728 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keagan as a male name
- Ranked #1,620 in 2024
- 105 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (564 births)
Keagan as a female name
- Ranked #4,067 in 2024
- 36 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (104 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keagan leans strongly male. 7,300 people counted with this name were male (83.3%), compared with 1,464 female bearers (16.7%).
Popularity
Keagan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keagan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,269 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
Keagan 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 Keagan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keagans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Keagan, while Vermont, New Jersey, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 157 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keagan
The name Keagan is an anglicized version of the Irish Gaelic name Cian, which has its origins in the ancient Celtic language. The name Cian is derived from the Old Irish word "cían," meaning "ancient" or "enduring." It is believed to have been a popular name among the ancient Celts who inhabited Ireland and parts of Scotland.
The earliest recorded use of the name Cian can be traced back to the 7th century AD, when it appeared in the medieval Irish annals and genealogies. One of the most notable historical figures bearing this name was Cian mac Ailill, a legendary Irish warrior who lived in the 1st century BC. He was said to have been the son of Ailill Olam, a high king of Ireland, and is mentioned in the ancient Irish mythological tales.
In the 12th century, the name Cian was also associated with Cian Óir, a legendary Irish poet and musician. According to folklore, he was one of the last surviving members of the ancient order of bards known as the Filidh, and his compositions were celebrated for their beauty and wisdom.
As the name Cian evolved into the anglicized form Keagan, it became more widely used in English-speaking countries, particularly in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and later in the United States. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keagan was in the 17th century, when it appeared in Irish parish records.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Keagan. These include Keagan Gerth (1971-2016), an Australian musician and songwriter; Keagan Girdlestone (born 1995), a South African cricketer; Keagan Dolly (born 1993), a South African professional soccer player; Keagan Eisenhauer (born 1985), a Canadian actor; and Keagan Kline (born 1997), an American professional baseball player.
Overall, the name Keagan has a rich historical legacy that spans centuries, originating from the ancient Celtic culture and evolving over time. Its enduring popularity reflects its association with the values of antiquity, endurance, and cultural heritage.
People
Keagan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keagan 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
Keagan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keagan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,275 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keagan 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 33,358 US residents.
Is Keagan a common name?
We classify Keagan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,402 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keagan most popular?
The single biggest year for Keagan was 2008, when 658 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keagan is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keagan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,769 people with the name Keagan, or 2.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,679 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 Keagan 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 Keagan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keagan leans strongly male. 7,300 people counted with this name were male (83.3%), compared with 1,464 female bearers (16.7%). 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 Keagan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keagan is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.3%) and Black (4.5%). 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 Keagan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keagan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (7,172 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 Keagan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keagan a male name?
Yes, 83.4% of people registered as Keagan 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 Keagan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keagan 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 Keagan 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 are named Keagan?
Want to know how many Americans are named Keagan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.