Keeghan
An Irish name meaning "son of the young, slender one".
Name Census estimates that about 433 living Americans carry the first name Keeghan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Keeghan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keeghan births was 2009 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keeghan. 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
433
~ 1 in 791,580 Americans
Peak year
2009
37 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,480
Tracked since 1992
Gender
Gender distribution for Keeghan
Keeghan leans heavily male at 80.8% of total registrations, but 84 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keeghan as a male name
- Ranked #11,480 in 2019
- 6 male births in 2019
- Peak: 2008 (30 births)
Keeghan as a female name
- Ranked #14,739 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2000 (11 births)
Popularity
Keeghan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keeghan from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 235 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Keeghan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keeghan 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 Keeghan 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 Keeghan
The name Keeghan is an anglicized variant of the Irish Gaelic name Cíoghán, which originated from the ancient Celtic word "cíoch" meaning "breast" or "udder". This name likely emerged during the medieval period in Ireland, reflecting the pastoral heritage and strong connection to the land and livestock among the ancient Gaelic tribes.
Cíoghán was initially a descriptive surname or byname bestowed upon individuals with some physical or occupational association with livestock or dairy farming. Over time, it transitioned into a given name, with the spelling evolving to accommodate English pronunciation and spelling conventions, resulting in the modern form, Keeghan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keeghan can be traced back to the 16th century, when a Keeghan O'Doherty was mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. This suggests that the name was in use among the Gaelic clans of Ulster and northern Ireland during this period.
Historically, the name Keeghan has been associated with several notable individuals. In the 17th century, Keeghan O'Reilly was a prominent Irish landowner and chieftain of the O'Reilly clan in County Cavan. During the 18th century, Keeghan MacCarthy was a respected scholar and poet from County Cork, known for his contributions to preserving the Irish language and literary traditions.
In more recent times, Keeghan Siochru was an Irish historian and academic who lived from 1920 to 2002, renowned for his research on medieval Ireland and the Gaelic world. Another notable bearer of the name was Keeghan O'Brien, an Irish actor and director who was born in 1942 and had a successful career in theater and television.
Lastly, Keeghan Dempsey was an American professional basketball player who played for various teams in the NBA from 2003 to 2011. He was born in 1981 and played the shooting guard position, earning recognition for his scoring abilities and defensive skills.
While the name Keeghan has its roots in ancient Celtic culture, it has endured and adapted over the centuries, transcending its original descriptive meaning and becoming a distinctive given name with a rich historical lineage.
People
Keeghan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keeghan 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
Keeghan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keeghan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 433 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keeghan 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 791,580 US residents.
Is Keeghan a common name?
We classify Keeghan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 438 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keeghan most popular?
The single biggest year for Keeghan was 2009, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keeghan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Keeghan a male name?
Yes, 80.8% of people registered as Keeghan 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.
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.