Keone
A masculine Hawaiian name meaning "the lucky or fortunate one".
Name Census estimates that about 585 living Americans carry the first name Keone. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keone today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keone births was 1986 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keone. 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 Keone with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
585
~ 1 in 585,905 Americans
Peak year
1986
21 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,423
Tracked since 1969
Census
Keone in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 484 people with the first name Keone, which placed it at #21,098 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
#21,098
National first-name rank
People counted
484
484 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
30.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keone
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keone is Black at 30.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.8%) and Two or More Races (21.1%). 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 Keone 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 Keone at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American30.2% · 146
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.8% · 125
- Two or more races21.1% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 73
- White7.6% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Keone: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keone from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 145 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Keone remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keone 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 Keone during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keones live
Origin
Meaning and history of Keone
The given name Keone has its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is a relatively modern name, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the late 19th century. Keone is believed to be derived from the Hawaiian word "keone," which means "sand" or "earth."
In Hawaiian culture, names often have deep spiritual and symbolic meanings, reflecting the close connection between the people and the natural world around them. The name Keone may have been given to children as a way to honor the land and the earth, or to express a desire for the child to have a grounded and stable nature.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Keone was Keone Kealoha, a Hawaiian artist and woodcarver who lived from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Kealoha was renowned for his intricate and detailed woodcarvings, which depicted traditional Hawaiian motifs and designs.
Another notable figure with the name Keone was Keone Downing, a Hawaiian musician and composer who lived from 1904 to 1987. Downing was a prominent figure in the Hawaiian music scene and helped to popularize traditional Hawaiian music styles both within the islands and beyond.
In the field of sports, Keone Kela, a professional baseball player from Hawaii, has made a name for himself in recent years. Kela, born in 1993, is a relief pitcher who has played for several teams in Major League Baseball, including the Texas Rangers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Keone Nunes, born in 1963, is a Hawaiian educator and community leader who has dedicated his career to promoting and preserving Hawaiian language and culture. Nunes has served as the president of the Hawaiian language immersion school Ke Kula 'O Nawahiokalaniopuu and has been a vocal advocate for the revitalization of the Hawaiian language.
Keone Kīhawalu, a Native Hawaiian activist and educator who lived from 1932 to 2013, played a significant role in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Kīhawalu was a prominent figure in the efforts to protect and preserve Native Hawaiian rights, lands, and cultural practices.
People
Keone + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keone 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
Keone: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keone?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 585 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keone 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 585,905 US residents.
Is Keone a common name?
We classify Keone as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keone most popular?
The single biggest year for Keone was 1986, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keone is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keone in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 484 people with the name Keone, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,098 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 Keone 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 Keone?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keone leans strongly male. 444 people counted with this name were male (91.9%), compared with 39 female bearers (8.1%). 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 Keone?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keone is Black at 30.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.8%) and Two or More Races (21.1%). 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 Keone most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keone in the 2020 Census, accounting for 30.2% (146 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 Keone in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keone a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keone 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 Keone still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keone 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 Keone 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 Keone as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.