Koehn
A German name derived from the word "Kuh" meaning "cow".
Name Census estimates that about 210 living Americans carry the first name Koehn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Koehn today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Koehn births was 2023 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Koehn. 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 Koehn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
210
~ 1 in 1,632,164 Americans
Peak year
2023
25 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,629
Tracked since 2004
Census
Koehn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 135 people with the first name Koehn, which placed it at #47,903 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
#47,903
National first-name rank
People counted
135
135 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Koehn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Koehn is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.9%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Koehn 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 Koehn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.5% · 110
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 8
- Two or more races5.2% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 6
- Black or African American1.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 2
Popularity
Koehn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Koehn from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 87 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Koehn 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 Koehn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Koehns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Koehn
The given name Koehn has its origins in the Germanic languages, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. Its earliest known spelling was "Kuhn," which was a common surname in German-speaking regions during the 12th and 13th centuries. The name is believed to have derived from the Old High German word "kuon," meaning "bold" or "brave."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Koehn can be found in the Codex Traditionum Monasterii Sancti Galli, a medieval manuscript from the 9th century that contains records of land transactions and legal documents from the Abbey of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. In this text, a man named "Cuono" is mentioned as a witness to a land transfer in the year 817 AD.
Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, the name Koehn remained relatively uncommon, but it did appear in various historical records and documents across German-speaking regions. One notable bearer of the name was Johann Koehn, a German Protestant theologian and reformer who lived from 1486 to 1552. He was a contemporary of Martin Luther and played a significant role in the Reformation movement in Saxony.
In the 17th century, a Dutch physician and botanist named Johannes Koehn (1629-1692) gained recognition for his contributions to the study of plants and their medicinal properties. His work, "Hortus Malabaricus," published in 1678, was a comprehensive catalog of the flora found in the Malabar region of India and remains an important reference work in botany.
Moving into the 19th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Koehn was the German poet and playwright, Friedrich Koehn (1809-1849). His works, which often depicted the struggles of the working class and advocated for social reform, were widely popular during his lifetime and influenced subsequent generations of writers and intellectuals.
Another notable figure was the German-American civil engineer and architect, Frederick Koehn (1851-1920). He was responsible for designing several iconic buildings in New York City, including the Williamsburg Bridge and the original Pennsylvania Station. His contributions to the city's infrastructure and architectural landscape had a lasting impact on the urban environment of the early 20th century.
While the name Koehn has its origins in German-speaking regions, it has been adopted and adapted in various cultures and languages over the centuries. The name's meaning of "bold" or "brave" has remained consistent throughout its history, making it a testament to the enduring legacy of the Germanic linguistic and cultural heritage.
People
Koehn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Koehn 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
Koehn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Koehn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Koehn 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 1,632,164 US residents.
Is Koehn a common name?
We classify Koehn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 212 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Koehn most popular?
The single biggest year for Koehn was 2023, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Koehn is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Koehn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 135 people with the name Koehn, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,903 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 Koehn 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 Koehn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Koehn leans strongly male. 127 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 6 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Koehn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Koehn is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.9%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Koehn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Koehn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.5% (110 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 Koehn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Koehn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Koehn 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 Koehn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Koehn 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 Koehn 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 Koehn?
Want to know how many people share the name Koehn? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.