Keanan
An Irish name meaning "born of fire", often associated with valor or passion.
Name Census estimates that about 612 living Americans carry the first name Keanan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keanan today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keanan births was 1997 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keanan. 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 Keanan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
612
~ 1 in 560,056 Americans
Peak year
1997
48 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,638
Tracked since 1977
Census
Keanan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 544 people with the first name Keanan, which placed it at #19,436 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
#19,436
National first-name rank
People counted
544
544 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keanan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keanan is White at 58.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Keanan 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 Keanan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.1% · 316
- Black or African American18.9% · 103
- Two or more races9.4% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 15
Popularity
Keanan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keanan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 243 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
Keanan 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 Keanan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keanan
The given name Keanan is of Irish Gaelic origin, derived from the word "caonán" which means "little pathfinder" or "little fighter." This name has been in use since ancient times in Ireland, particularly in the regions of Munster and Connacht.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keanan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history dating back to the 15th century. The name is mentioned in an entry from the year 1432, referring to a man named Keanan Ó Néill, a member of the influential Ó Néill dynasty that ruled parts of Ulster.
In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name Keanan was Keanan O'Hara, a renowned Irish poet and bard who lived during the reign of Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone. O'Hara's works, which celebrated the exploits of the O'Neill clan, are among the earliest examples of Irish literature in the modern era.
Another historical figure with the name Keanan was Keanan Deane, an Irish soldier who fought in the Confederate Wars of the mid-17th century. Deane, a staunch Catholic, served in the Irish Confederate forces during the Irish Confederate Wars against the English Parliamentary forces.
In the 18th century, Keanan O'Rourke was a prominent Irish rebel and leader of the Defenders, a Catholic agrarian secret society that fought against the oppressive Penal Laws imposed on Irish Catholics by the British government. O'Rourke played a significant role in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Keanan in modern times was Keanan Duffty, an acclaimed Irish author and playwright born in 1902 in County Mayo. Duffty's works, which often explored themes of Irish identity and nationalism, earned him widespread critical acclaim and several literary awards.
While the name Keanan has its roots in ancient Irish history, it continues to be used as a given name in various parts of the world, particularly in Ireland and among the Irish diaspora. The name's unique meaning and rich cultural heritage have contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Keanan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keanan 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
Keanan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keanan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 612 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keanan 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 Keanan a common name?
We classify Keanan 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, 623 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keanan most popular?
The single biggest year for Keanan was 1997, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keanan is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keanan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 544 people with the name Keanan, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,436 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 Keanan 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 Keanan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keanan leans strongly male. 525 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 18 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Keanan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keanan is White at 58.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Keanan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keanan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.1% (316 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 Keanan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keanan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keanan 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 Keanan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keanan 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 Keanan 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 Keanan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.