Keary
A masculine name derived from the Old English word "cere" meaning "watchful".
Name Census estimates that about 606 living Americans carry the first name Keary. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Keary today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keary births was 1974 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keary. 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.
People living today
606
~ 1 in 565,601 Americans
Peak year
1974
40 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1999 SSA rank
#9,321
Tracked since 1949
Census
Keary in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 672 people with the first name Keary, which placed it at #16,680 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
#16,680
National first-name rank
People counted
672
672 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keary
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keary is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Keary 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 Keary at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 440
- Black or African American23.1% · 155
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 35
- Two or more races4.2% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Keary
Keary leans heavily male at 84.8% of total registrations, but 104 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keary as a male name
- Ranked #9,321 in 1999
- 6 male births in 1999
- Peak: 1974 (33 births)
Keary as a female name
- Ranked #13,465 in 2004
- 7 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1971 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Keary on both sides of the split. Of the 667 people counted with this name, 488 were male (73.2%) and 179 were female (26.8%).
Popularity
Keary: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keary from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 285 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
Keary 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 Keary during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kearys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Keary
The given name Keary has its origins rooted in the ancient Gaelic language, which was predominantly spoken in Ireland and parts of Scotland during the medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Irish word "caor," meaning "berry" or "small fruit." This connection suggests that the name Keary may have initially been used as a descriptive name or surname to identify individuals associated with berry-picking or living in areas abundant with berries.
In its early days, the name Keary was predominantly found in the northwestern regions of Ireland, particularly in counties such as Donegal and Sligo. Its historical records can be traced back to the 12th century, where it appears in several ancient Irish manuscripts and genealogical records.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keary can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In this text, a man named Keary O'Donnell is mentioned as a notable chieftain in the year 1182. O'Donnell was a prominent Irish surname, indicating that Keary was likely a given name within that noble family.
Throughout the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Keary. In the 16th century, Keary O'Callaghan was a celebrated Irish poet and bard who composed works in both Gaelic and English. His birthdate is uncertain, but it is estimated that he lived between 1530 and 1600.
Another prominent figure was Keary O'Doherty, an Irish chieftain who led a rebellion against English rule in Ulster in the early 17th century. He was born around 1585 and played a significant role in the Nine Years' War before his death in 1608.
In the realm of literature, Keary Graves was an Irish novelist and short story writer who lived from 1857 to 1934. He is best known for his works exploring rural Irish life and his contributions to the Irish literary renaissance.
Moving forward in time, Keary Widdows was a British soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valor in the British armed forces. He was born in 1890 and awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during World War I in 1918.
More recently, Keary Colbert was an American football player who competed in the National Football League (NFL) from 2004 to 2010. Born in 1981, Colbert played as a wide receiver for several teams, including the Carolina Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks.
People
Keary + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keary 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
Keary: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keary?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 606 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keary 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 565,601 US residents.
Is Keary a common name?
We classify Keary as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 684 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keary most popular?
The single biggest year for Keary was 1974, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keary is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keary in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 672 people with the name Keary, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,680 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 Keary 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 Keary?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Keary on both sides of the split. Of the 667 people counted with this name, 488 were male (73.2%) and 179 were female (26.8%). 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 Keary?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keary is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Keary most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keary in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (440 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 Keary in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keary a male name?
Yes, 84.8% of people registered as Keary 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 Keary still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keary 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 Keary 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 Keary?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.