Keshon
A variation of the name Keshawn, of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 1,259 living Americans carry the first name Keshon. It is a predominantly male name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Keshon today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keshon births was 2000 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keshon. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 272,243 Americans
Peak year
2000
111 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,399
Tracked since 1975
Census
Keshon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 994 people with the first name Keshon, which placed it at #12,493 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
#12,493
National first-name rank
People counted
994
994 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keshon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keshon is Black at 87.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Keshon 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 Keshon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.7% · 872
- Two or more races5.2% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 31
- White2.6% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Keshon
Keshon leans heavily male at 96.3% of total registrations, but 48 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keshon as a male name
- Ranked #10,399 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (106 births)
Keshon as a female name
- Ranked #16,330 in 2000
- 5 female births in 2000
- Peak: 1993 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keshon leans strongly male. 926 people counted with this name were male (92.6%), compared with 74 female bearers (7.4%).
Popularity
Keshon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keshon from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 628 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keshon 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 Keshon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keshons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Illinois, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Keshon, while Tennessee, Mississippi, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keshon
The name Keshon is a relatively modern variant of the name Keeshon, which has its origins in the Afro-Caribbean culture of the late 20th century. The name is believed to have been derived from the Akan language spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast, where the name Keeshon (or Keeshan) was used to refer to a male child born on a Thursday.
The earliest recorded use of the name Keshon can be traced back to the late 1970s and early 1980s in parts of the United States, particularly in urban areas with significant African-American communities. It is thought that the name gained popularity as a unique and culturally-inspired alternative to more traditional names.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Keshon was Keshon Obasi, an American basketball player who played for several collegiate teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Another early example is Keshon Philander, a South African cricketer who represented the national team in the early 2000s.
Throughout the 20th century, several other individuals named Keshon achieved recognition in various fields. Keshon Grant was a Jamaican-born musician and songwriter who was active in the reggae scene in the 1980s and 1990s. Keshon Broussard was an American painter and sculptor whose works were exhibited in several notable galleries during the late 20th century.
In more recent times, Keshon Jackson, an American football player, gained recognition for his performance in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 2010s. Additionally, Keshon Henderson, a Canadian actor and writer, has appeared in several television shows and films since the late 2000s.
While the name Keshon may not have a long historical lineage, its unique sound and cultural significance have made it a popular choice among parents in recent decades, particularly in certain communities and regions.
People
Keshon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keshon 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
Keshon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keshon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,259 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keshon 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 272,243 US residents.
Is Keshon a common name?
We classify Keshon as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,280 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keshon most popular?
The single biggest year for Keshon was 2000, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keshon is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keshon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 994 people with the name Keshon, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,493 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 Keshon 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 Keshon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keshon leans strongly male. 926 people counted with this name were male (92.6%), compared with 74 female bearers (7.4%). 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 Keshon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keshon is Black at 87.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Keshon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keshon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.7% (872 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 Keshon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keshon a male name?
Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Keshon 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 Keshon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keshon 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 Keshon 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 Keshon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.