Find out how popular the last name Keen is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Keen.

Keen, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Keen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Keen in America

Keen is the 1959th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Keen surname appeared 18,459 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Keen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Keen to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Keen

The surname Keen is of English origin, deriving from the Old English word "cene" meaning "bold" or "brave". It is believed to have originated as a nickname for someone with a fierce or courageous disposition.

The name can be traced back to the 12th century, with early recordings found in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1195, where a Thomas Kene is mentioned. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 also list an entry for a John le Kene in Oxfordshire.

Keen is a variant spelling of the surname Keene, which was particularly prevalent in the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The name is associated with the village of Keene in Wiltshire, which was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Cane".

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Sir John Keene, a Knight of the Shire for Wiltshire, who was born around 1340. Another notable figure was Sir Benjamin Keene, an English diplomat who served as the British Ambassador to Spain from 1717 to 1727.

In the 17th century, the Keen surname can be found in various parish records across England. For example, a William Keen was baptized in 1621 in Warminster, Wiltshire, while a John Keen was married in 1650 in Malmesbury, also in Wiltshire.

Other historical figures with the Keen surname include Edmund Keen (1563-1633), an English clergyman and author, and Edmund Keen (1887-1972), an American historian and professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

The name has also been carried by several notable military figures, such as Sir Benjamin Keen (1768-1843), a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars, and General Thomas W. Keen (1842-1924), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Keen

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Keen.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Keen was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Keen has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Keen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Keen, please contact us.

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