Keith
A masculine name from Scottish and English roots, meaning "Wood" or "Forest".
Name Census estimates that about 354,908 living Americans carry the first name Keith. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Keith today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keith births was 1957 (12,483 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keith. 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 Keith with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Keith is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,216 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Keith have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
355K
~ 1 in 966 Americans
Peak year
1957
12,483 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#756
Tracked since 1888
Census
Keith in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 328,988 people with the first name Keith, which placed it at #153 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
#153
National first-name rank
People counted
329K
328,988 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
108.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keith
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keith is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.3%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Keith 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 Keith at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.4% · 247,954
- Black or African American17.3% · 56,827
- Two or more races2.8% · 9,134
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 7,957
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 5,020
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2,096
Gender
Gender distribution for Keith
Out of the 439,808 babies given the name Keith since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Keith as a male name
- Ranked #756 in 2024
- 336 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (12,437 births)
Keith as a female name
- Ranked #13,305 in 2007
- 8 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1968 (74 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keith appears almost entirely male. Of the 328,988 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Keith: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keith from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 113,108 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keith 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 Keith during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keiths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Keith, while Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,539 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keith
The name Keith has its origins in the ancient Brythonic Celtic languages of Britain. It is derived from the ancient Celtic name Catus, which means "battle" or "warrior". The name Catus was later Latinized to Catutus during the Roman occupation of Britain.
Over time, the name evolved through various spellings like Ket, Chet, and Keit before finally settling on the modern spelling of Keith. The name gained popularity in Scotland during the Middle Ages and was often associated with the powerful Clan Keith, who were known for their military prowess and bravery in battle.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Keith can be found in the Scottish Ragman Rolls, a collection of feudal homage papers from the 13th century. In these rolls, a man named Keith is listed as a landowner in the county of Haddington, Scotland.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Keith. One of the most famous was Sir Robert Keith (1681-1757), a Scottish military officer and governor of Russia. He served as a Field Marshal in the Russian army and was a trusted advisor to the Empress Elizabeth of Russia.
Another prominent Keith was James Francis Edward Keith (1696-1758), a Scottish Jacobite and Prussian military leader. He fought in the Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1719, and later served as a Field Marshal in the Prussian army under Frederick the Great.
In the 20th century, Keith Holyoake (1904-1983) was a distinguished New Zealand politician who served as the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1957 to 1960 and again from 1960 to 1972.
One of the most famous Keiths of recent times was Keith Richards (born 1943), the legendary guitarist and co-founder of the Rolling Stones. His contribution to rock music and his iconic guitar riffs have made him a household name worldwide.
Another notable Keith was Keith Jarrett (born 1945), an influential American jazz pianist and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and innovative figures in modern jazz, known for his improvisational skills and emotionally charged performances.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Keith
People
Keith + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keith 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
Keith: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keith?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 354,908 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keith 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 966 US residents.
Is Keith a common name?
We classify Keith as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 439,808 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keith most popular?
The single biggest year for Keith was 1957, when 12,483 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keith is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keith in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 328,988 people with the name Keith, or 108.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #153 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 Keith 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 Keith?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keith appears almost entirely male. Of the 328,988 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Keith?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keith is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.3%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Keith most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Keith in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.4% (247,954 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 Keith in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keith a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Keith 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 Keith still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keith 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 Keith 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 have the name Keith?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Keith, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.