Koen
A masculine name of Dutch origin meaning "bold adventurer".
Name Census estimates that about 4,694 living Americans carry the first name Koen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Koen today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Koen births was 2023 (468 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Koen. 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 Koen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Koen is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 73,020 Americans
Peak year
2023
468 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#681
Tracked since 1996
Census
Koen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,130 people with the first name Koen, which placed it at #5,476 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
#5,476
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,130 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Koen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Koen is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.4%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Koen 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 Koen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.5% · 2,362
- Two or more races9.4% · 294
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 211
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 134
- Black or African American3.0% · 94
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Koen
Out of the 4,734 babies given the name Koen since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Koen as a male name
- Ranked #681 in 2024
- 399 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (468 births)
Koen as a female name
- Ranked #16,589 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2011 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Koen leans strongly male. 3,087 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 40 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Koen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Koen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,796 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
Koen 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 Koen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Koens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Koen, while Montana, Nevada, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Koen
The name Koen has its origins in the Dutch language, tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is a variation of the Germanic name Konrad or Conrad, which is derived from the elements "kuoni" meaning brave or bold, and "rad" meaning counsel or advice.
In the early medieval period, the name was commonly spelled as Coen or Coene in the Low Countries. Some historians believe it may have been influenced by the Old Norse name Koðran, which shares similar roots and meanings. The earliest known recorded use of the name Koen dates back to the 12th century in the region that is now the Netherlands and Belgium.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name was Koen van Naaldwijk, a Dutch nobleman and military leader who lived in the late 13th century. He played a significant role in the conflicts between the County of Holland and the Duchy of Brabant during that era.
In the 15th century, Koen Heynsz was a renowned Dutch painter and illuminator, known for his contributions to the renowned Ghent Altarpiece. His work exemplified the remarkable artistic achievements of the Early Netherlandish period.
Moving into the 16th century, Koen Janssens was a prominent Flemish humanist scholar and poet. Born in 1515, he was widely recognized for his Latin poetry and his advocacy for educational reforms during the Renaissance.
In more recent history, Koen de Kort was a Dutch athlete and Olympic gold medalist in cycling. Born in 1967, he won the men's points race at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Another notable figure was Koen Lenaerts, a Belgian legal scholar and jurist who served as the President of the European Court of Justice from 2015 to 2022. Born in 1954, he made significant contributions to the development of European Union law.
While the name Koen has retained its popularity in the Netherlands and Belgium, it has also gained recognition in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with Dutch cultural influences or connections.
People
Koen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Koen 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
Koen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Koen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,694 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Koen 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 73,020 US residents.
Is Koen a common name?
We classify Koen as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,734 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Koen most popular?
The single biggest year for Koen was 2023, when 468 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Koen is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Koen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,130 people with the name Koen, or 1.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,476 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 Koen 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 Koen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Koen leans strongly male. 3,087 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 40 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Koen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Koen is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.4%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Koen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Koen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (2,362 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 Koen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Koen a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Koen 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 Koen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Koen 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 Koen 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 called Koen?
You can see how many people have the name Koen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.