Kele
A unisex name of West African origin meaning "to bestow honor".
Name Census estimates that about 157 living Americans carry the first name Kele. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Kele today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kele births was 1999 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kele. 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.
People living today
157
~ 1 in 2,183,149 Americans
Peak year
1999
18 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2001 SSA rank
#5,860
Tracked since 1966
Census
Kele in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 360 people with the first name Kele, which placed it at #26,062 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
#26,062
National first-name rank
People counted
360
360 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kele
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kele is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Black (20.0%) and Two or More Races (12.5%). 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 Kele 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 Kele at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.0% · 180
- Black or African American20.0% · 72
- Two or more races12.5% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.1% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Kele
Kele is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 164 total registrations, 89 (54.3%) were male and 75 (45.7%) were female.
Kele as a male name
- Ranked #5,860 in 2001
- 12 male births in 2001
- Peak: 2001 (12 births)
Kele as a female name
- Ranked #14,346 in 2006
- 7 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1994 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kele on both sides of the split. Of the 361 people counted with this name, 163 were male (45.2%) and 198 were female (54.8%).
Popularity
Kele: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kele from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 90 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Kele remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kele 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 Kele 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 Kele
The name Kele originates from the Yoruba language spoken by the Yoruba people of West Africa, primarily in present-day Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. The name is believed to have roots dating back to the 14th century or earlier, during the height of the Oyo Empire.
Kele is derived from the Yoruba word "kéle," which means "to adorn" or "to decorate." This name was often given to children born during festivities or celebrations, as they were seen as an adornment or decoration to the family and community.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Kele can be found in the Ifa literary corpus, which is a collection of Yoruba oral traditions, religious texts, and divination verses. The name appears in various proverbs and stories, highlighting its cultural significance within the Yoruba tradition.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kele. One such figure was Kele Ologbenla (c. 1500-1570), a renowned Yoruba warrior and military strategist who played a crucial role in the expansion of the Oyo Empire during the 16th century.
Another prominent individual was Kele Ogundiran (1820-1892), a renowned Yoruba philosopher and scholar known for his contributions to the understanding of Ifa divination and Yoruba cosmology.
In the realm of arts and culture, Kele Ogunwole (1928-2003) was a celebrated Nigerian playwright and novelist whose works explored themes of identity, tradition, and social change.
Moving to more recent times, Kele Okereke (born 1981) is a British singer-songwriter and the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Bloc Party, known for their innovative sound and socially conscious lyrics.
Lastly, Kele Nakie (born 1988) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who has won numerous international marathons and represented her country in major athletic competitions, including the Olympic Games.
These individuals, spanning various fields and time periods, exemplify the diverse cultural and historical significance of the name Kele, which has been carried by notable figures throughout the centuries.
People
Kele + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kele 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
Kele: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kele?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 157 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kele 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 2,183,149 US residents.
Is Kele a common name?
We classify Kele as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 164 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kele most popular?
The single biggest year for Kele was 1999, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kele is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kele in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 360 people with the name Kele, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,062 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 Kele 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 Kele?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kele on both sides of the split. Of the 361 people counted with this name, 163 were male (45.2%) and 198 were female (54.8%). 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 Kele?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kele is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Black (20.0%) and Two or More Races (12.5%). 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 Kele most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kele in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (180 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 Kele in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kele a male name?
Yes, 54.3% of people registered as Kele 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 Kele still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kele 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 Kele 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 are called Kele?
You can see how many people have the name Kele on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.