Keelee
A feminine given name of Irish origin meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 454 living Americans carry the first name Keelee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keelee today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keelee births was 2007 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keelee. 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
454
~ 1 in 754,966 Americans
Peak year
2007
43 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,804
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Keelee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keelee 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 223 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
Keelee 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 Keelee 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 Keelee
The given name Keelee is a relatively modern and unique name, with its origins and meaning somewhat obscure. It is likely a variation or combination of other more established names, potentially derived from various cultural and linguistic roots.
One possible interpretation is that Keelee is a feminized form of the Irish name Keely, which itself is a diminutive of the masculine name Kyle. Kyle can be traced back to the Gaelic name Caoilte, which means "slender" or "thin." In this context, Keelee could be seen as a more modern and feminine adaptation of this original Irish name.
Another theory suggests that Keelee may have roots in the Hawaiian language, where the name Keeley or Kiele is a feminine name meaning "the bearer of good news." The addition of the extra "e" at the end could be a creative spin on this Hawaiian name, giving it a more unique and melodic sound.
While there are no definitive historical references or records of the name Keelee itself, it is worth noting a few notable individuals who have carried variations of this name throughout history. One example is Keely Shaye Smith, an American former journalist and the wife of actor Pierce Brosnan, born in 1963.
Another individual is Keely Shaye Brosnan, the daughter of Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith, born in 1993. While not named Keelee directly, these examples demonstrate the use of similar names in more recent times.
Moving further back in history, there is Keely Forsyth, an American actress and singer who was active in the early 20th century, born in 1890 and passing away in 1948. Additionally, Keely Smith, an American jazz and popular music singer, had a successful career spanning from the 1940s to the 1970s, born in 1928 and passing away in 2017.
Finally, one of the earliest recorded individuals with a similar name is Keely Stevenson, an American actress and vaudeville performer who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, born in 1876 and passing away in 1952.
While the name Keelee itself may not have a deep historical lineage, its possible roots in Irish, Hawaiian, and other cultural traditions, combined with its unique sound and spelling, have likely contributed to its growing popularity as a modern given name.
People
Keelee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keelee 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
Keelee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keelee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 454 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keelee 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 754,966 US residents.
Is Keelee a common name?
We classify Keelee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 463 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keelee most popular?
The single biggest year for Keelee was 2007, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keelee is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Keelee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keelee in the SSA data are female. 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.