Keir
Keir was given to 7 boys in 2025, #10,203 among boys’ names; 1,117 Americans have been recorded with it since 1963 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,040 Americans named Keir and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 21 and 53.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Keir by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Keir mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Keir is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “dark” (ciar).
Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic ciar (“dark”) or Old Norse [Term?]. Hanks (2006) derived the name from Pictish/Proto-Brythonic *kaɨr (“a fort”), possibly via Scots keir.
/kɪɹ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Keir?
#10,203 among boys’ names, 2025
Keir fell from #4,625 in 2015 to #10,203 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 11.0 to 4.1 per million.
74 babies in 1970, the peak
Keir peaked in 1970, when 74 babies were given it (63 boys, #1,028 among boys’ names). The 7 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #10,203 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 13 | #6,647 | 7.5 |
| 2023 | 17 | #5,570 | 9.9 |
| 2022 | 20 | #4,934 | 11.5 |
| 2021 | 17 | #5,452 | 9.7 |
| 2020 | 12 | #6,829 | 7.0 |
| 2019 | 12 | #6,987 | 6.7 |
| 2018 | 11 | #7,384 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 12 | #6,906 | 6.5 |
| 2016 | 5 | #13,256 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (63)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 21 | #4,625 | 11.0 |
| 2014 | 16 | #5,595 | 8.3 |
| 2013 | 15 | #5,804 | 7.9 |
| 2012 | 10 | #7,849 | 5.3 |
| 2011 | 13 | #6,420 | 6.8 |
| 2010 | 5 | #13,328 | 2.6 |
| 2009 | 10 | #8,009 | 5.0 |
| 2008 | 16 | #5,634 | 7.8 |
| 2007 | 7 | #10,358 | 3.4 |
| 2006 | 19 | #4,779 | 9.2 |
| 2005 | 16 | #5,158 | 8.0 |
| 2004 | 12 | #6,336 | 6.0 |
| 2003 | 16 | #4,928 | 8.1 |
| 2002 | 10 | #6,803 | 5.2 |
| 2001 | 12 | #5,852 | 6.2 |
| 2000 | 15 | #4,917 | 7.6 |
| 1999 | 17 | #4,240 | 8.9 |
| 1998 | 16 | #4,300 | 8.4 |
| 1997 | 14 | #4,572 | 7.4 |
| 1996 | 21 | #3,337 | 11.1 |
| 1995 | 16 | #3,961 | 8.4 |
| 1994 | 13 | #4,667 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 17 | #3,741 | 8.7 |
| 1992 | 15 | #4,013 | 7.5 |
| 1991 | 17 | #3,540 | 8.4 |
| 1990 | 25 | #2,657 | 12.2 |
| 1989 | 14 | #3,910 | 7.0 |
| 1988 | 13 | #3,792 | 6.8 |
| 1987 | 18 | #2,890 | 9.6 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,666 | 4.9 |
| 1985 | 20 | #2,553 | 10.8 |
| 1984 | 10 | #4,070 | 5.5 |
| 1983 | 17 | #2,738 | 9.5 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,415 | 5.0 |
| 1981 | 17 | #2,728 | 9.5 |
| 1980 | 12 | #3,513 | 6.7 |
| 1979 | 16 | #2,843 | 9.3 |
| 1978 | 9 | #4,008 | 5.5 |
| 1977 | 23 | #2,101 | 14.0 |
| 1976 | 25 | #1,960 | 15.9 |
| 1975 | 20 | #2,255 | 12.8 |
| 1974 | 22 | #2,024 | 14.0 |
| 1973 | 17 | #2,359 | 10.9 |
| 1972 | 32 | #1,522 | 19.7 |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,223 | 26.0 |
| 1970 | 63 | #1,028 | 33.9 |
| 1969 | 45 | #1,176 | 25.2 |
| 1968 | 28 | #1,490 | 16.1 |
| 1967 | 6 | #3,772 | 3.4 |
| 1966 | 12 | #2,396 | 6.7 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,725 | 3.2 |
| 1964 | 21 | #1,767 | 10.5 |
| 1963 | 13 | #2,366 | 6.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Keir a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,117 Americans recorded as Keir, 6% are girls and 94% boys. In 2025 it went to 7 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 Keir: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Keir, and how old are they?
1,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,117 Americans ever recorded as Keir. The median Keir alive today is 38 years old; half are between 21 and 53.
The 2020 Census counted 1,010 people named Keir (138 women and girls, 872 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 981 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 27 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 387 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 248 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 204 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 177 |
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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,186 babies since 1880, Keir is the most given (94% of them).
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 Keir
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
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 Keir and names like it
- Compare Keir and KeairBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sKeir peaked in 1970.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Keir since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Keir.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Keir alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.