Keeton
Of English origin, a diminutive of the surname Keate, possibly from the French "queit" meaning calm.
Name Census estimates that about 898 living Americans carry the first name Keeton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keeton today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keeton births was 2007 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keeton. 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 Keeton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
898
~ 1 in 381,686 Americans
Peak year
2007
43 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,373
Tracked since 1979
Census
Keeton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 917 people with the first name Keeton, which placed it at #13,247 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
#13,247
National first-name rank
People counted
917
917 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keeton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keeton is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Keeton 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 Keeton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.0% · 724
- Black or African American7.3% · 67
- Two or more races6.4% · 59
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 5
Popularity
Keeton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keeton 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 348 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
Keeton 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 Keeton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keetons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Keeton, while Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keeton
The given name Keeton has its origins in the Old English language, deriving from the word "cyta," which means "kite" or "noble bird." This name was predominantly used in Anglo-Saxon England during the medieval period, roughly from the 5th to the 11th century AD.
The name Keeton is believed to have been initially used as a nickname or a descriptive name, likely referring to someone with a keen eye or a noble bearing, akin to a soaring kite. As a result, it was predominantly given to individuals of higher social status or those known for their bravery or sharp senses.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keeton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of lands and landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The document mentions a landowner named Keeton de Huntingdon, suggesting the name's use among the Norman nobility.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Keeton remained relatively uncommon but was occasionally used by members of the gentry and aristocracy. One notable figure bearing this name was Sir Keeton de Vere, a Norman knight who accompanied William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
In the 13th century, a Franciscan friar named Keeton of Assisi gained recognition for his scholarly works on theology and philosophy. His writings were widely circulated and studied in monasteries across Europe during the High Middle Ages.
Another historical figure of note was Keeton Chaucer, a distant relative of the renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who served as a diplomat and courtier during the reign of King Edward III in the 14th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name Keeton experienced a slight resurgence in popularity, particularly among the educated classes. One notable bearer of this name was Keeton Marlowe, an Elizabethan playwright and contemporary of William Shakespeare, known for his works such as "Doctor Faustus" and "The Jew of Malta."
While the name Keeton has since fallen out of widespread use, it remains a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical background, reflecting the nobility and keen senses associated with its Old English origins.
People
Keeton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keeton 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
Keeton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keeton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 898 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keeton 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 381,686 US residents.
Is Keeton a common name?
We classify Keeton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 911 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keeton most popular?
The single biggest year for Keeton was 2007, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keeton is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keeton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 917 people with the name Keeton, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,247 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 Keeton 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 Keeton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keeton leans strongly male. 842 people counted with this name were male (92.0%), compared with 73 female bearers (8.0%). 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 Keeton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keeton is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Keeton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keeton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.0% (724 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 Keeton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keeton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keeton 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 Keeton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keeton 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 Keeton 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 Americans are named Keeton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.