Keawe
A Hawaiian name meaning "the road" or "the path".
Name Census estimates that about 141 living Americans carry the first name Keawe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keawe today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keawe births was 2023 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keawe. 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
141
~ 1 in 2,430,882 Americans
Peak year
2023
12 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,640
Tracked since 1994
Census
Keawe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 169 people with the first name Keawe, which placed it at #42,487 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
#42,487
National first-name rank
People counted
169
169 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Two or more races
42.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keawe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keawe is Two or More Races at 42.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Hispanic (17.2%). 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 Keawe 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 Keawe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Two or more races42.0% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.0% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino17.2% · 29
- White8.3% · 14
- Black or African American6.5% · 11
Popularity
Keawe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keawe from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Keawe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keawe 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 Keawe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keawes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Keawe
The name Keawe has its roots in Hawaiian culture and language. It is derived from the Hawaiian word "ke awe", which translates to "the valley" or "the channel". This name likely originated in the pre-colonial era of Hawaii's history, before the arrival of Western explorers and settlers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keawe can be found in Hawaiian mythology and folklore. According to some legends, Keawe was the name of a powerful Hawaiian chief who lived in the 16th century. He is said to have ruled over the island of Oahu and was renowned for his wisdom and strength.
Another historical figure named Keawe was a Hawaiian high priest who lived in the late 18th century. He played a significant role in the religious and cultural practices of the Hawaiian people during that time. His name is mentioned in various historical accounts and records from that period.
In the 19th century, there was a Hawaiian chief named Keaweamahi who was a prominent figure in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was born in 1813 and was known for his involvement in the political affairs of the Hawaiian monarchy during the reign of King Kamehameha III.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Keawe was Keawe Kekumano, a respected Hawaiian historian and scholar who lived from 1851 to 1928. He dedicated his life to preserving and documenting the history, language, and traditions of the Hawaiian people.
Another notable figure was Keawe Kapu, a Hawaiian composer and musician who lived from 1889 to 1964. He is celebrated for his contributions to traditional Hawaiian music and for composing numerous songs that have become part of the island's cultural heritage.
While the name Keawe has deep roots in Hawaiian culture and history, it is important to note that this report focuses solely on its use as a first name and does not include information about its potential use as a surname or last name.
People
Keawe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keawe 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
Keawe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keawe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 141 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keawe 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 2,430,882 US residents.
Is Keawe a common name?
We classify Keawe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 143 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keawe most popular?
The single biggest year for Keawe was 2023, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keawe is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keawe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 169 people with the name Keawe, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,487 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 Keawe 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 Keawe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keawe leans strongly male. 153 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 14 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Keawe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keawe is Two or More Races at 42.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Hispanic (17.2%). 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 Keawe most often in the Census?
Two or More Races is the largest reported group for people named Keawe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.0% (71 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 Keawe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keawe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keawe 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 Keawe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keawe 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 Keawe 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 Keawe?
Find out how many people share the name Keawe on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.