Key — #9949 US boys' name

What the Data Says About Key

The Social Security Administration has registered 166 babies named Key between 1914 and 2024, spanning 111 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Key currently holds the #9949 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1993, when 12 babies received it in a single year. Key is classified as unisex in SSA records: the opposite-sex variant accounts for 10 additional births since 1970.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Key performed strongest in the 1990s, accumulating 52 births during that ten-year window. Across the 10 decades of recorded activity, Key shows a clear decline from its mid-century high.

No etymological entry is currently available for Key in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 166 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.