Keshawna
Keshawna is a feminine name of African-American origin possibly derived from Kiswana, meaning "beautiful or pretty".
Name Census estimates that about 446 living Americans carry the first name Keshawna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keshawna today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keshawna births was 2000 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keshawna. 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
446
~ 1 in 768,507 Americans
Peak year
2000
38 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2012 SSA rank
#15,949
Tracked since 1980
Census
Keshawna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 375 people with the first name Keshawna, which placed it at #25,327 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
#25,327
National first-name rank
People counted
375
375 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keshawna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keshawna is Black at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and Hispanic (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 Keshawna 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 Keshawna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.9% · 341
- Two or more races4.8% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 6
- White0.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Popularity
Keshawna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keshawna from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 238 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
Keshawna 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 Keshawna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keshawnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Florida, Maryland, Illinois recorded the most babies named Keshawna, while Virginia, Illinois, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keshawna
The name Keshawna is a relatively modern invention, likely a variant or combination of other names from different cultural origins. It does not appear to have any direct ties to ancient texts, scriptures, or historical records.
The first part of the name, "Kesh," could potentially derive from the Sanskrit word "केश" (keśa), which means "hair" or "lock of hair." This Sanskrit root is found in various Indian names and words related to hair or beauty. However, the connection to the name Keshawna is speculative.
The latter part of the name, "awna," may have roots in African or African-American naming traditions, where names often combine elements from different languages or cultures. The "-awna" suffix could potentially be a variation of the common African name ending "-wana," which means "child" or "daughter" in various Bantu languages.
While the name Keshawna does not have a long historical trail, it has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in certain regions of the United States. Some notable individuals who have borne the name Keshawna include:
1. Keshawna Wright, an American track and field athlete who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
2. Keshawna Muhammad, an American basketball player who played for the University of Louisville from 2010 to 2014.
3. Keshawna Forrester, an American softball player who played for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the early 2010s.
4. Keshawna Barnes, an American singer and songwriter known for her work in the gospel and contemporary Christian music genres.
5. Keshawna Barber, an American entrepreneur and motivational speaker known for her work in promoting financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
These individuals, while not necessarily historically significant figures, have contributed to the growing recognition and popularity of the name Keshawna in various fields, from sports and music to business and public speaking.
People
Keshawna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keshawna 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
Keshawna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keshawna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 446 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keshawna 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 768,507 US residents.
Is Keshawna a common name?
We classify Keshawna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keshawna most popular?
The single biggest year for Keshawna was 2000, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keshawna is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keshawna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 375 people with the name Keshawna, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,327 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 Keshawna 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 Keshawna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keshawna appears almost entirely female. Of the 375 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Keshawna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keshawna is Black at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and Hispanic (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 Keshawna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keshawna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.9% (341 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 Keshawna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keshawna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keshawna 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 Keshawna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keshawna 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 Keshawna 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 common is the name Keshawna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.