Keen
An English name derived from the adjective keen, meaning discerning or observant.
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Keen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keen today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keen births was 2011 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keen. 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
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
2011
14 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,355
Tracked since 1998
Census
Keen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 377 people with the first name Keen, which placed it at #25,213 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
#25,213
National first-name rank
People counted
377
377 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
41.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keen is White at 41.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.2%) and Black (18.6%). 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 Keen 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 Keen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White41.9% · 158
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.2% · 95
- Black or African American18.6% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 26
- Two or more races5.3% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 8
Popularity
Keen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 99 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Keen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keen 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 Keen 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 Keen
The name Keen has its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain around the 5th to 11th centuries AD. It is derived from the word "cene," meaning "bold" or "brave." This name likely originated as a descriptive nickname for a courageous or valiant individual.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keen can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record dating back to the 9th century. Here, the name appears as "Cēne," referring to a warrior or nobleman from the kingdom of Wessex.
In the Middle Ages, the name Keen gained popularity among the English nobility and upper classes. It was often associated with chivalry and knighthood, reflecting the qualities of bravery and fearlessness that were highly valued during this period.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Keen was Keen de Lacy, a Norman knight who lived in the 12th century. He was a prominent figure in the Norman conquest of Ireland and played a significant role in the establishment of English rule in the region.
Another well-known individual with this name was Keen the Fowler, a legendary figure from English folklore who was said to be an expert hunter and falconer. His exploits were chronicled in various ballads and tales, cementing his place in the cultural heritage of England.
In the literary realm, the name Keen appeared in the works of Shakespeare. In the play "Henry IV, Part 1," a character named Keen is mentioned as a valiant soldier fighting for King Henry.
Other notable individuals with the name Keen include Keen Burkitt, an Irish-born surgeon and pioneer in cancer research (1911-1993), and Keen Purnell, an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the early 20th century (1895-1956).
While the name Keen may not be as common today as it once was, its historical significance and associations with bravery, courage, and nobility continue to resonate, making it a unique and enduring choice for a given name.
People
Keen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keen 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
Keen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keen 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Keen a common name?
We classify Keen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 185 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keen most popular?
The single biggest year for Keen was 2011, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keen is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 377 people with the name Keen, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,213 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 Keen 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 Keen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keen leans strongly male. 337 people counted with this name were male (88.7%), compared with 43 female bearers (11.3%). 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 Keen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keen is White at 41.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.2%) and Black (18.6%). 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 Keen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.9% (158 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 Keen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keen 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 Keen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keen 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 Keen 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 Keen?
Find out how many people have the name Keen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.