Keval
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "only one" or "the absolute".
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Keval. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Keval today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keval births was 2004 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keval. 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 Keval with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
2004
12 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2012 SSA rank
#9,325
Tracked since 1991
Census
Keval in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 337 people with the first name Keval, which placed it at #27,242 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
#27,242
National first-name rank
People counted
337
337 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
89.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keval
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keval is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.2%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Keval 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 Keval at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander89.0% · 300
- Black or African American4.2% · 14
- Two or more races3.3% · 11
- White3.0% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 2
Popularity
Keval: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keval from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 62 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
Keval 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 Keval during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keval
The name Keval is derived from the Sanskrit word 'kevala', which means 'whole', 'entire', or 'complete'. It is believed to have originated in ancient India, where it was likely used as a descriptive term or a spiritual name associated with the concept of wholeness or completeness.
The earliest recorded mentions of the name Keval can be found in Hindu scriptures and philosophical texts dating back to the 6th century BCE. In the Upanishads, the term 'kevala' is used to describe the state of liberation or enlightenment achieved through spiritual practices such as meditation and self-realization.
One of the earliest historical figures known to have borne the name Keval was Keval Krishn, a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 7th century CE. He is credited with making significant contributions to the field of trigonometry and is believed to have authored the influential work 'Kalpa-Grantha'.
Another notable figure with the name Keval was Keval Narayan Tiwari, a prominent Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who lived from 1896 to 1983. He actively participated in the Indian independence movement and worked towards the upliftment of marginalized communities.
In the realm of spirituality, Keval Chandra Bhattacharya, born in 1895, was a renowned Bengali spiritual teacher and philosopher. He was a prolific writer and is known for his works on the Vedanta philosophy and the integration of Eastern and Western thought.
Keval Singh Pathania, born in 1889, was a distinguished Indian army officer who served during World War I and World War II. He was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery and leadership during the latter conflict.
More recently, Keval Arora, born in 1972, is a successful Indian businessman and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Cosmic Nutracos Solutions, a leading nutraceutical company based in India.
Throughout history, the name Keval has carried connotations of wholeness, completeness, and spiritual enlightenment, reflecting its roots in the ancient Sanskrit language and Hindu philosophical traditions.
People
Keval + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keval 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
Keval: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keval?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keval 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Keval a common name?
We classify Keval as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 106 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keval most popular?
The single biggest year for Keval was 2004, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keval is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keval in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 337 people with the name Keval, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,242 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 Keval 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 Keval?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keval leans strongly male. 326 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 7 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Keval?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keval is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.2%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Keval most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Keval in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (300 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 Keval in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keval a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keval 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 Keval still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keval 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 Keval 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 Keval?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Keval at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.