Keilan
An Irish boy's name with possible meanings of "celestial", "bright-headed", or "bright warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 1,319 living Americans carry the first name Keilan. It is a predominantly male name (96.8% of registrations). The average person named Keilan today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keilan births was 2011 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keilan. 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 Keilan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Keilan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 259,859 Americans
Peak year
2011
68 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,550
Tracked since 1976
Census
Keilan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,038 people with the first name Keilan, which placed it at #12,115 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
#12,115
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,038 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keilan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keilan is Black at 52.0%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Keilan 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 Keilan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.0% · 540
- White24.8% · 257
- Hispanic or Latino11.0% · 114
- Two or more races8.6% · 89
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Keilan
Keilan leans heavily male at 96.8% of total registrations, but 43 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keilan as a male name
- Ranked #3,550 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (64 births)
Keilan as a female name
- Ranked #12,806 in 2012
- 8 female births in 2012
- Peak: 2001 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keilan leans strongly male. 918 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 119 female bearers (11.5%).
Popularity
Keilan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keilan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 496 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Keilan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keilan 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 Keilan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keilans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Keilan, while Virginia, Mississippi, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keilan
The name Keilan is believed to have originated from the ancient Celtic language and culture. Its roots can be traced back to the early medieval period, around the 5th to 8th centuries AD, when the Celts inhabited parts of modern-day Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and certain regions of continental Europe.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Keilan can be found in the Irish Annals, a collection of historical records dating back to the 6th century. In these annals, Keilan is mentioned as the name of a prominent Irish scholar and monk who lived in the 7th century. However, the exact meaning or etymology of the name is not clearly defined in these ancient texts.
Throughout the centuries, the name Keilan has been associated with various notable historical figures. One of the most famous individuals bearing this name was Keilan of Inishcaltra, an Irish monk and scribe who lived in the 8th century. He is renowned for his contributions to the preservation of ancient manuscripts and his work in the monastic scriptorium on the island of Inishcaltra, located in Lough Derg, Ireland.
Another notable figure with the name Keilan was Keilan of Glendalough, a 10th-century Irish abbot and bishop who served as the head of the monastic community at Glendalough, County Wicklow. He is remembered for his efforts in promoting education and religious studies during his time.
In the 12th century, Keilan of Clonmacnoise, an Irish monk and historian, is recorded as having written an important chronicle documenting the history of Ireland during that period. His work, known as the Annals of Clonmacnoise, provides valuable insights into the events and people of that era.
Moving forward in time, Keilan O'Daly, a 16th-century Irish chieftain and landowner, is another notable figure associated with this name. He played a significant role in the political and military conflicts of his time, defending his lands against English colonization efforts.
While the name Keilan has its roots in the Celtic culture and has a rich history, it has also been adopted and used in various other parts of the world over the centuries. However, its earliest and most prominent associations remain rooted in the ancient Celtic traditions and the historical records of Ireland and Scotland.
People
Keilan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keilan 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
Keilan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keilan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,319 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keilan 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 259,859 US residents.
Is Keilan a common name?
We classify Keilan as "Rare". It ranks above 91.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keilan most popular?
The single biggest year for Keilan was 2011, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keilan is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keilan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,038 people with the name Keilan, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,115 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 Keilan 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 Keilan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keilan leans strongly male. 918 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 119 female bearers (11.5%). 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 Keilan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keilan is Black at 52.0%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Keilan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keilan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.0% (540 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 Keilan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keilan a male name?
Yes, 96.8% of people registered as Keilan 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 Keilan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keilan 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 Keilan 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 common is the name Keilan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.