Keoni
A masculine Hawaiian name meaning "the handsome one".
Name Census estimates that about 3,428 living Americans carry the first name Keoni. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Keoni today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keoni births was 2013 (125 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keoni. 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 Keoni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 99,987 Americans
Peak year
2013
125 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,720
Tracked since 1968
Census
Keoni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,608 people with the first name Keoni, which placed it at #6,208 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
#6,208
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,608 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Two or more races
27.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keoni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keoni is Two or More Races at 27.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Hispanic (22.2%). 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 Keoni 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 Keoni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Two or more races27.8% · 724
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.0% · 679
- Hispanic or Latino22.2% · 580
- Black or African American12.5% · 326
- White10.0% · 260
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Keoni
Keoni leans heavily male at 89.7% of total registrations, but 359 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keoni as a male name
- Ranked #1,720 in 2024
- 96 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (113 births)
Keoni as a female name
- Ranked #7,396 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keoni leans strongly male. 2,348 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 264 female bearers (10.1%).
Popularity
Keoni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keoni from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 936 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Keoni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keoni 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 Keoni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keonis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Hawaii, California, Washington recorded the most babies named Keoni, while Virginia, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 120 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keoni
The name Keoni is a Hawaiian name derived from the English name John. The name John has its roots in the Hebrew name Yochanan, which means "Yahweh is gracious." The Hawaiian language adapted the name John to Keoni, which is pronounced as "kay-o-nee."
The name Keoni gained popularity in Hawaii during the 19th century, when Christian missionaries arrived in the Hawaiian Islands and introduced Western names. As Hawaiians embraced Christianity, they often adopted biblical names or Hawaiian variations of those names, such as Keoni.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keoni can be found in the Hawaiian language newspaper "Ka Nupepa Kuokoa," which was published in the late 19th century. The newspaper featured articles mentioning individuals with the name Keoni.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Keoni. One example is Keoni Fairbanks (1897-1979), a Hawaiian musician and composer known for his contributions to Hawaiian music. Another is Keoni Kaheaku Kaukau (1890-1974), a Hawaiian historian and author who documented traditional Hawaiian culture and practices.
Keoni Waimapuna'a Kealoha (1878-1963) was a Hawaiian entrepreneur and businessman who played a significant role in the development of the pineapple industry in Hawaii. Keoni Kealoha Uli (1857-1932) was a Hawaiian high chief and landowner who was instrumental in preserving Hawaiian cultural traditions and practices.
Keoni Kaukau (1891-1971) was a Hawaiian hula master and teacher who dedicated his life to perpetuating the art of hula and preserving Hawaiian cultural traditions. He played a crucial role in reviving and promoting the ancient Hawaiian hula tradition.
While the name Keoni may have its origins in the English name John, it has become deeply ingrained in Hawaiian culture and has a rich history dating back to the 19th century. The name carries cultural significance and has been borne by many notable figures who have contributed to the preservation and promotion of Hawaiian heritage and traditions.
People
Keoni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keoni 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
Keoni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keoni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,428 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keoni 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 99,987 US residents.
Is Keoni a common name?
We classify Keoni as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keoni most popular?
The single biggest year for Keoni was 2013, when 125 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keoni is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keoni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,608 people with the name Keoni, or 0.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,208 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 Keoni 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 Keoni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keoni leans strongly male. 2,348 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 264 female bearers (10.1%). 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 Keoni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keoni is Two or More Races at 27.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Hispanic (22.2%). 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 Keoni most often in the Census?
Two or More Races is the largest reported group for people named Keoni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 27.8% (724 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 Keoni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keoni a male name?
Yes, 89.7% of people registered as Keoni 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 Keoni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keoni 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 Keoni 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 Keoni?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.