Keng
An unisex name of Chinese origin meaning "to celebrate".
Name Census estimates that about 493 living Americans carry the first name Keng. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keng today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keng births was 1992 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keng. 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
493
~ 1 in 695,242 Americans
Peak year
1992
32 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,263
Tracked since 1979
Census
Keng in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 993 people with the first name Keng, which placed it at #12,510 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
#12,510
National first-name rank
People counted
993
993 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
92.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keng
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keng is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Black (4.3%) and White (1.6%). 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 Keng 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 Keng at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander92.8% · 922
- Black or African American4.3% · 43
- White1.6% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
- Two or more races0.2% · 2
Popularity
Keng: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keng from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 202 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keng 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 Keng during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kengs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Keng, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keng
The name Keng has its origins in the ancient Khmer language of Cambodia, dating back to the Angkorian era of the 9th to 15th centuries AD. It is derived from the Khmer word "keng," which means "to be abundant" or "to be prosperous." This name was likely given to children with the hope that they would live a life of plenty and success.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Keng can be found in the inscriptions of the Khmer Empire, particularly in the accounts of royal families and noble lineages. It is believed that some members of the ruling class bore this name, though specific individuals are not well-documented.
In the realm of historical figures, the name Keng is associated with a few notable individuals. Keng Vannsak (1925-1999) was a revered Cambodian monk and spiritual leader who played a significant role in the revival of Buddhism in the country after the Khmer Rouge regime. Keng Tola (born 1976) is a contemporary Cambodian artist renowned for his intricate stone carvings and sculptures that depict traditional Khmer culture and mythology.
Beyond Cambodia, the name Keng has also been found in some historical records from neighboring regions, though its usage has been relatively limited. One notable individual was Keng Tju (1885-1926), a prominent Chinese-Indonesian journalist and activist who advocated for the rights of the ethnic Chinese community in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
Another figure of note was Keng Yam (1905-1981), a Malaysian politician and legislator who served as a member of the Johor State Legislative Assembly during the mid-20th century. He was instrumental in advocating for the rights of the Chinese community in Malaysia and played a role in the country's transition to independence.
While the name Keng has ancient roots and historical significance in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia, its usage has been relatively rare compared to other traditional names in the region. However, it continues to be a part of the cultural heritage and naming traditions of these diverse societies.
People
Keng + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keng 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
Keng: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keng?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 493 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keng 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 695,242 US residents.
Is Keng a common name?
We classify Keng as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 504 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keng most popular?
The single biggest year for Keng was 1992, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keng is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keng in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 993 people with the name Keng, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,510 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 Keng 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 Keng?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keng leans strongly male. 901 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 88 female bearers (8.9%). 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 Keng?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keng is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Black (4.3%) and White (1.6%). 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 Keng most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Keng in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.8% (922 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 Keng in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keng a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keng 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 Keng still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keng 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 Keng 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 share the name Keng?
Want to know how many Americans are named Keng? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.