2000
#1,906
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 17,320
First available Census row
Per 100,000 6.42
Uncommon Last name
Keen
A surname of Irish and English origin, referring to a brave or wise person.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 19,435 Americans carry the last name Keen. That puts it at #2,078 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 5.67 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 17,636 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Keen surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Keen with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
19K
1 in 17,636
Census rank
#2,078
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
5.7
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
17K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 16,948 bearers of the surname Keen in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 5.67 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 2078th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Keen, the largest self-reported group is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.6%) and Two or More Races (3.8%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of 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.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keen
Among Census respondents with the surname Keen, the largest self-reported group is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.6%) and Two or More Races (3.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Keen bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Keen surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 14,799
- Black or African American4.6% · 784
- Two or more races3.8% · 637
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 460
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 174
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 94
Timeline
Historical Census data for Keen
Keen appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#1,959
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 18,459
+1,139 bearers (+6.6%)
Per 100,000 6.26
Rank movement Down 53 places
2020
#2,078
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 16,948
-1,511 bearers (-8.2%)
Per 100,000 5.67
Rank movement Down 119 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #1,906 | 17,320 | 6.42 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #1,959 | 18,459 | 6.26 | +1,139 bearers (+6.6%) | Down 53 places |
| 2020 | #2,078 | 16,948 | 5.67 | -1,511 bearers (-8.2%) | Down 119 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Keen surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #1,959 | #2,078 | -6.1% |
| Count | 18,459 | 16,948 | -8.2% |
| Per 100K | 6.26 | 5.67 | -9.4% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Keen bearers went from 18,459 to 16,948 (-8.2% change). The surname moved down 119 positions in the national ranking, going from #1,959 to #2,078.
FAQ
Keen surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Keen?
Name Census estimates that about 19,435 living Americans carry the surname Keen. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 17,636 residents.
How common is Keen?
Keen ranks #2,078 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 5.67 per 100,000 residents, which is about 6 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 16,948 people with the surname Keen. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (19,435), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 5.67 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 5.67 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 6 of them to have the surname Keen.
Has Keen become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Keen went from 18,459 recorded bearers to 16,948. That is a decrease of 1,511 (-8.2%). In the national ranking it fell from #1,959 to #2,078.
What does the Census say about the background of Keen?
Among Census respondents with the surname Keen, the largest self-reported group is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.6%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Keen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (14,799 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Keen appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (87.3%), Black (4.6%), Two or More Races (3.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Keen (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Keen mean?
A surname of Irish and English origin, referring to a brave or wise person. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Keen (5.67 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the last name Keen?
See how many people have the last name Keen on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.