Keoshia
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly blended from indigenous American roots.
Name Census estimates that about 201 living Americans carry the first name Keoshia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keoshia today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keoshia births was 1994 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keoshia. 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
201
~ 1 in 1,705,245 Americans
Peak year
1994
19 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1998 SSA rank
#8,942
Tracked since 1983
Census
Keoshia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 178 people with the first name Keoshia, which placed it at #41,266 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
#41,266
National first-name rank
People counted
178
178 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keoshia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keoshia is Black at 95.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.2%) and White (1.1%). 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 Keoshia 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 Keoshia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.5% · 170
- Two or more races2.2% · 4
- White1.1% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Keoshia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keoshia from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 128 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keoshia 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 Keoshia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keoshias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Keoshia
The name Keoshia is believed to have its roots in the Kisii language, spoken by the Abagusii people of western Kenya. The name is thought to be derived from the word "keosho," which means "dawn" or "daybreak." This suggests that the name was likely given to children born around sunrise, a time that held special significance in Abagusii culture.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Keoshia date back to the late 19th century, when Christian missionaries began recording the names of their converts in the region. One of the first known individuals with the name was Keoshia Mogaka, a young woman who was baptized by missionaries in the 1880s.
In the early 20th century, the name gained popularity among the Abagusii community, and it began to spread to other parts of Kenya and neighboring countries. One notable figure with the name was Keoshia Nyandiko, a Kenyan educator and activist who fought for women's rights in the 1940s and 1950s.
Beyond Kenya, the name Keoshia has been recorded in various parts of the world, likely due to the migration of people from East Africa. One such individual was Keoshia Akpan, a Nigerian writer and poet who published several collections of works in the 1970s and 1980s.
Another notable bearer of the name was Keoshia Mahama, a Ghanaian politician who served as a member of parliament in the late 20th century. She was known for her advocacy for education and women's empowerment.
In the United States, the name Keoshia has been recorded since the mid-20th century, likely due to the influence of African immigrants or African Americans seeking to connect with their cultural heritage. One notable American with the name was Keoshia Williams, a civil rights activist who campaigned for voting rights in the 1960s.
While not an exhaustive list, these individuals illustrate the rich history and diverse cultural backgrounds associated with the name Keoshia, which has its roots in the Kisii language of western Kenya.
People
Keoshia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keoshia 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
Keoshia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keoshia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keoshia 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 1,705,245 US residents.
Is Keoshia a common name?
We classify Keoshia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keoshia most popular?
The single biggest year for Keoshia was 1994, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keoshia is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keoshia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 178 people with the name Keoshia, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,266 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 Keoshia 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 Keoshia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keoshia appears almost entirely female. Of the 170 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Keoshia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keoshia is Black at 95.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.2%) and White (1.1%). 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 Keoshia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keoshia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.5% (170 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 Keoshia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keoshia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keoshia in the SSA data are female. 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 Keoshia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keoshia 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 Keoshia 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 named Keoshia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.