Keian
Of Japanese origin, meaning "flourishing peace" or "growing affection".
Name Census estimates that about 358 living Americans carry the first name Keian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keian today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keian births was 2009 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keian. 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 Keian with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
358
~ 1 in 957,414 Americans
Peak year
2009
28 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,374
Tracked since 1993
Census
Keian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 323 people with the first name Keian, which placed it at #28,012 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
#28,012
National first-name rank
People counted
323
323 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keian is White at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and Hispanic (12.7%). 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 Keian 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 Keian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.1% · 136
- Black or African American22.0% · 71
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 41
- Two or more races12.1% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.7% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 8
Popularity
Keian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keian 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 133 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Keian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keian 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 Keian 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 Keian
The name Keian is a relatively modern invention, with no definitive origins in any particular language or culture. It appears to be a creative spelling variation of the more common name Keanu, which has Hawaiian roots.
Keanu is derived from the Hawaiian words "kea," meaning "the way" or "the path," and "nalu," meaning "wave." Combined, the name can be interpreted as "the cool breeze over the waves." However, the spelling "Keian" does not follow traditional Hawaiian naming conventions.
There are no known historical references or appearances in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records for the name Keian specifically. Its modern usage can likely be attributed to parents seeking a unique variation of the more familiar Keanu.
While there are no famous historical figures bearing the name Keian, here are five notable individuals with the more common spelling of Keanu:
1. Keanu Reeves (born 1964) is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in films such as "The Matrix" trilogy, "Speed," and "Point Break."
2. Keanu Lipenga (born 1963) is a Malawian lawyer and politician who served as the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in Malawi.
3. Keanu Ebanks (born 1982) is a former professional soccer player from the Cayman Islands who played as a defender.
4. Keanu Marsh-Brown (born 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Barnet.
5. Keanu Naiqama (born 1992) is a professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
It's worth noting that while the name Keian may not have a rich historical background, it remains a unique and creative variation that parents may choose for its distinctiveness and potential connection to the Hawaiian roots of Keanu.
People
Keian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keian 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
Keian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 358 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keian 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 957,414 US residents.
Is Keian a common name?
We classify Keian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 362 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keian most popular?
The single biggest year for Keian was 2009, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keian is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 323 people with the name Keian, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,012 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 Keian 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 Keian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keian leans strongly male. 304 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 12 female bearers (3.8%). 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 Keian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keian is White at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and Hispanic (12.7%). 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 Keian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.1% (136 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 Keian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keian a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keian 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 Keian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keian 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 Keian 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 Keian?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.