Ketan
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "bright" or "brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 340 living Americans carry the first name Ketan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ketan today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ketan births was 1980 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ketan. 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 Ketan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
340
~ 1 in 1,008,101 Americans
Peak year
1980
20 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,319
Tracked since 1970
Census
Ketan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,655 people with the first name Ketan, which placed it at #8,695 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
#8,695
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,655 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ketan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ketan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and White (2.8%). 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 Ketan 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 Ketan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.3% · 1,511
- Two or more races4.1% · 68
- White2.8% · 46
- Black or African American0.7% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 8
Popularity
Ketan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ketan from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Ketan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ketan 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 Ketan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ketans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ketan
The name Ketan originates from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that has been spoken in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "ketu," which means "brightness" or "radiance." The name Ketan is believed to have been in use since ancient times in the Indian subcontinent.
In Hindu mythology, Ketu is the name of a celestial entity associated with the descending lunar node, which is believed to have a significant influence on astrological events. The name Ketan is often associated with brightness, intelligence, and spiritual enlightenment.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ketan can be found in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a warrior. However, the exact date of this reference is uncertain due to the epic's ambiguous timeline.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ketan. One of the most famous was Ketan Mehta, an Indian film director and screenwriter born in 1946. He is known for his critically acclaimed films that explored social and political issues in India.
Another notable figure was Ketan Desai, an Indian medical professional who served as the president of the World Medical Association from 2016 to 2017. He played a significant role in promoting ethical medical practices and advocating for patient rights.
Ketan Parekh, born in 1958, was an infamous Indian stock broker who was involved in a major financial scandal in the early 2000s, which led to a temporary crash of the Indian stock market.
Ketan Mukherjee, born in 1971, is an Indian tabla player and composer who has collaborated with various renowned musicians and has received numerous awards for his contributions to Indian classical music.
Ketan Mehta, born in 1949, is an Indian artist known for his landscape paintings and his unique style of combining Indian and Western artistic techniques. His works have been exhibited in various prestigious galleries around the world.
The name Ketan has a rich cultural heritage and has been associated with various notable individuals throughout history, primarily in the Indian subcontinent. Its roots in Sanskrit and its connection to brightness and spiritual enlightenment have contributed to its enduring popularity as a given name.
People
Ketan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ketan 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
Ketan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ketan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 340 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ketan 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 1,008,101 US residents.
Is Ketan a common name?
We classify Ketan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ketan most popular?
The single biggest year for Ketan was 1980, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ketan is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ketan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,655 people with the name Ketan, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,695 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 Ketan 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 Ketan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ketan appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,655 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ketan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ketan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and White (2.8%). 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 Ketan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ketan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (1,511 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 Ketan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ketan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ketan 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 Ketan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ketan 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 Ketan 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 share the name Ketan?
Want to know how many people share the name Ketan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.