Keylan
A masculine name possibly of Irish origin, meaning "favorable" or "slender".
Name Census estimates that about 1,030 living Americans carry the first name Keylan. It is a predominantly male name (94.7% of registrations). The average person named Keylan today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keylan births was 2010 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keylan. 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 Keylan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Keylan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 332,771 Americans
Peak year
2010
55 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,626
Tracked since 1989
Census
Keylan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 826 people with the first name Keylan, which placed it at #14,291 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
#14,291
National first-name rank
People counted
826
826 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keylan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keylan is Black at 48.4%. The next largest groups are White (23.8%) and Hispanic (13.6%). 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 Keylan 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 Keylan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.4% · 400
- White23.8% · 197
- Hispanic or Latino13.6% · 112
- Two or more races11.6% · 96
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Keylan
Keylan leans heavily male at 94.7% of total registrations, but 55 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Keylan as a male name
- Ranked #4,626 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (49 births)
Keylan as a female name
- Ranked #12,761 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keylan leans strongly male. 725 people counted with this name were male (87.2%), compared with 106 female bearers (12.8%).
Popularity
Keylan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keylan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 387 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Keylan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keylan 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 Keylan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keylans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Florida recorded the most babies named Keylan, while South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keylan
The name Keylan is of Celtic origin, deriving from the Gaelic word "caol", meaning "slender" or "narrow". It is believed to have originated in Ireland and Scotland during the medieval period, around the 10th to 12th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keylan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In this text, dated around 1095, a figure named Keylan Ua Laighnen is mentioned as a notable scholar and ecclesiastical figure.
In the 13th century, there are records of a Keylan MacAlister, a Scottish warrior who fought alongside Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence against England. He was said to be a skilled archer and a loyal companion to the Scottish king.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure bearing the name Keylan was Keylan O'Toole, an Irish poet and bard who lived in the 16th century. His works, written in the Gaelic language, celebrated the Irish culture and explored themes of love, nature, and the struggles of his people.
In the 17th century, Keylan O'Byrne was a prominent Irish rebel who participated in the Irish Confederate Wars against the English Parliament. He was known for his bravery and tactical skills in leading his troops against the English forces.
Another historical figure with the name Keylan was Keylan McShane, a Scottish soldier who fought in the Jacobite Risings of the 18th century. He was a dedicated supporter of the Stuart cause and participated in several battles, including the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Throughout history, the name Keylan has been associated with individuals of Celtic descent, particularly those from Ireland and Scotland. While not a widely popular name in modern times, it holds a rich heritage and has been carried by warriors, poets, scholars, and rebels who have left their mark on the cultural and historical landscape of their respective regions.
People
Keylan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keylan 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
Keylan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keylan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,030 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keylan 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 332,771 US residents.
Is Keylan a common name?
We classify Keylan as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,042 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keylan most popular?
The single biggest year for Keylan was 2010, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keylan is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keylan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 826 people with the name Keylan, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,291 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 Keylan 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 Keylan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keylan leans strongly male. 725 people counted with this name were male (87.2%), compared with 106 female bearers (12.8%). 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 Keylan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keylan is Black at 48.4%. The next largest groups are White (23.8%) and Hispanic (13.6%). 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 Keylan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Keylan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.4% (400 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 Keylan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keylan a male name?
Yes, 94.7% of people registered as Keylan 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 Keylan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keylan 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 Keylan 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 have Keylan as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.