Keelin
Keelin was last recorded in 2025, when 8 babies were given it; 1,396 Americans have been recorded with it between 1956 and 2025 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,370 Americans named Keelin and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 23 years old and half are between 16 and 29.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Keelin by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Keelin mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Keelin is “a female given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the senses “thin, slender” (caol) and “light, fair” (fionn).
Borrowed from Irish Caoilfhionn, from caol (“thin, slender”) + fionn (“light, fair”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Keelin?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,456, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
70 babies in 2002, the peak
Keelin peaked in 2002, when 70 babies were given it (61 girls, #2,563 among girls’ names). The 8 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 8 | #9,321 | |
| 2024 | under 5 | 6 | #11,679 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 8 | #9,358 | |
| 2022 | 6 | #14,456 | 7 | #10,341 |
| 2021 | 8 | #11,642 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 7 | #12,811 | 12 | #6,828 |
| 2019 | 9 | #10,908 | 13 | #6,599 |
| 2018 | 14 | #7,958 | 12 | #6,925 |
| 2017 | 6 | #15,028 | 9 | #8,506 |
| 2016 | 15 | #7,795 | 9 | #8,492 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,437 | 7 | #10,111 |
| 2014 | 20 | #6,318 | 12 | #6,859 |
| 2013 | 25 | #5,401 | 9 | #8,462 |
| 2012 | 29 | #4,901 | 14 | #6,157 |
| 2011 | 30 | #4,755 | 11 | #7,258 |
| 2010 | 30 | #4,800 | 18 | #5,142 |
| 2009 | 34 | #4,421 | 17 | #5,433 |
| 2008 | 43 | #3,742 | 12 | #6,980 |
| 2007 | 49 | #3,409 | 12 | #6,866 |
| 2006 | 44 | #3,589 | 5 | #13,061 |
| 2005 | 40 | #3,681 | 9 | #7,999 |
| 2004 | 42 | #3,529 | 11 | #6,771 |
| 2003 | 41 | #3,498 | 5 | #11,857 |
| 2002 | 61 | #2,563 | 9 | #7,347 |
| 2001 | 42 | #3,277 | 16 | #4,784 |
| 2000 | 40 | #3,364 | 23 | #3,584 |
| 1999 | 40 | #3,212 | 16 | #4,458 |
| 1998 | 35 | #3,454 | 8 | #7,216 |
| 1997 | 35 | #3,323 | 15 | #4,357 |
| 1996 | 38 | #3,112 | 10 | #5,771 |
| 1995 | 23 | #4,417 | 14 | #4,401 |
| 1994 | 27 | #3,948 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 22 | #4,583 | 8 | #6,543 |
| 1992 | 27 | #3,906 | 6 | #7,963 |
| 1991 | 21 | #4,721 | 5 | #8,897 |
| 1990 | 12 | #7,085 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 14 | #5,968 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 8 | #8,773 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,663 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,129 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,238 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 5 | #11,197 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,464 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 5 | #11,288 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 8 | #7,731 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 9 | #7,058 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,048 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 7 | #7,002 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,697 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,251 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,414 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Keelin a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,396 Americans recorded as Keelin, 74% are girls and 26% boys. In 2025 it went to 8 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Keelin: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Keelin, and how old are they?
1,370 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,396 Americans ever recorded as Keelin. The median Keelin alive today is 23 years old; half are between 16 and 29.
The 2020 Census counted 1,302 people named Keelin (1,009 women and girls, 293 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,322 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 26 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 277 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 826 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 236 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 8,813 babies since 1880, Keelin is the fourth most given (16% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 128 babies (6.3%), again the fourth most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Keelin
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1950-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Reilly | 10,088 | |
| Alexie | 1,917 | |
| Shamari | 1,907 | |
| Carrington | 4,481 |
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Keelin and names like it
- Compare Keelin and KellynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sKeelin peaked in 2002.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Keelin since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Keelin: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2002The year the most babies were named Keelin.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Keelin alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.