Kees
A diminutive form of the Dutch masculine name Cornelis.
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the first name Kees. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kees today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kees births was 2003 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kees. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kees with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
139
~ 1 in 2,465,859 Americans
Peak year
2003
11 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,344
Tracked since 1985
Census
Kees in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 272 people with the first name Kees, which placed it at #31,478 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
#31,478
National first-name rank
People counted
272
272 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kees
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kees is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Kees 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 Kees at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.3% · 221
- Two or more races7.0% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 18
- Black or African American4.0% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
Popularity
Kees: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kees from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 75 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
Kees 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 Kees 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 Kees
The name Kees is a Dutch diminutive form of the name Cornelius, which is derived from the Roman family name Cornelius. Cornelius is believed to have originated from the Latin word "cornu," meaning "horn," which may have been a nickname referring to someone with a prominent nose or a metaphorical reference to strength or vigor.
The name Cornelius has a long history, dating back to ancient Rome. It was a popular name among the Roman aristocracy, and several notable individuals bore this name, including the Roman general Cornelius Scipio Africanus, who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
The diminutive form Kees emerged in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. It was a common practice to create diminutive forms of names as terms of endearment or familiarity. Kees became a popular name in its own right and was used across the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kees can be found in the 15th century, when a Dutch painter named Kees van der Goes was active. Another notable figure from the same period was Kees van Oostzanen, a Dutch nobleman who played a significant role in the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule in the late 16th century.
In the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, the name Kees was associated with several prominent figures in the arts and sciences. Kees Vermeer, better known as Johannes Vermeer, was a renowned Dutch painter famous for his masterpieces like "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665) and "The Milkmaid" (1658-1660).
During the 18th century, Kees Emilius Backer was a Dutch artist known for his portraits and genre paintings. He was born in 1738 and lived until 1804.
In the 19th century, Kees Doorman was a Dutch naval officer who became a national hero for his actions during the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942. He was born in 1879 and died in the battle in 1942.
Moving into the 20th century, Kees van Dongen was a Dutch painter and one of the leading figures of the Fauvism movement. He was born in 1877 and lived until 1968.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Kees throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence in Dutch culture and its association with various fields, including art, literature, military, and politics.
People
Kees + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kees 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
Kees: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kees?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kees 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 2,465,859 US residents.
Is Kees a common name?
We classify Kees as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kees most popular?
The single biggest year for Kees was 2003, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kees is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kees in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 272 people with the name Kees, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,478 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 Kees 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 Kees?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kees leans strongly male. 266 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 11 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Kees?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kees is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Kees most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kees in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (221 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 Kees in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kees a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kees 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 Kees still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kees 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 Kees 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 called Kees?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.