Keisha
Feminine name of African origin, meaning "favorite child" or "princess".
Name Census estimates that about 20,725 living Americans carry the first name Keisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keisha today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keisha births was 1977 (1,050 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keisha. 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 Keisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
21K
~ 1 in 16,538 Americans
Peak year
1977
1,050 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1989 SSA rank
#2,566
Tracked since 1961
Census
Keisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,145 people with the first name Keisha, which placed it at #1,503 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
#1,503
National first-name rank
People counted
22K
22,145 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keisha is Black at 69.4%. The next largest groups are White (17.1%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Keisha 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 Keisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American69.4% · 15,379
- White17.1% · 3,792
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 1,390
- Two or more races4.7% · 1,045
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 303
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 236
Gender
Gender distribution for Keisha
Out of the 22,271 babies given the name Keisha since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Keisha as a male name
- Ranked #8,594 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1974 (9 births)
Keisha as a female name
- Ranked #2,566 in 2024
- 69 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (1,050 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,143 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Keisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keisha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 8,931 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keisha 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 Keisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Keisha, while Nevada, New Hampshire, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 434 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keisha
The name Keisha is believed to have its origins in the African American community, particularly in the southern United States, in the mid-20th century. It is thought to be a variation or feminized version of the male name Keefe, which itself is a form of the Irish name Keeffe or Keevan, derived from the Gaelic word "caomh" meaning "handsome" or "gentle."
While the exact origins of the name Keisha are uncertain, it is speculated that African American families may have adopted or adapted the name from Irish immigrants or influences, giving it a unique cultural spin and pronunciation. The name gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Black Power movement and the embrace of African-inspired names.
One of the earliest recorded notable individuals with the name Keisha was Keisha Castle-Hughes, a New Zealand actress born in 1990. She rose to fame for her role in the 2002 film "Whale Rider," for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress at the age of 13, making her the youngest nominee in that category.
Another prominent figure was Keisha Buchan, a British singer-songwriter born in 1984, known professionally as Keisha Buchanan. She was a founding member and lead vocalist of the popular British girl group Sugababes.
In the world of sports, Keisha Hampton, an American track and field athlete born in 1985, competed in the Olympic Games and won multiple medals, including a gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Keisha Renee Hurtado, born in 1987, is a former American actress and singer best known for her role as Gabriella Montez in the "High School Musical" television series.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, born in 1970, is an American politician who served as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2018 to 2022.
While the name Keisha became popular in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in the African American community, its origins can be traced back to various cultural influences, showcasing the rich diversity and evolution of names across time and societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Keisha
People
Keisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keisha 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
Keisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,725 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keisha 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 16,538 US residents.
Is Keisha a common name?
We classify Keisha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,271 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Keisha was 1977, when 1,050 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keisha is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,145 people with the name Keisha, or 7.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,503 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 Keisha 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 Keisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,143 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Keisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keisha is Black at 69.4%. The next largest groups are White (17.1%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Keisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (15,379 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 Keisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keisha a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Keisha in the SSA data are female. 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 Keisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keisha 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 Keisha 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 Keisha?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Keisha at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.