BabyNamesMap

Baby names › Boys

Keith

Means “wood”*

CommonRare
Rank 2015: #424, 2016: #485, 2017: #492, 2018: #503, 2019: #550, 2020: #598, 2021: #591, 2022: #694, 2023: #711, 2024: #756, 2025: #8001 in 5,492 boys in the US, 2025#800 · falling · was #424 in 2015
CommonRare
Rank 2015: #1,673, 2016: #2,804, 2017: #2,324, 2018: #1,786, 2019: #1,869, 2020: #3,334, 2021: #3,451, 2022: #2,756, 2023: #2,326, 2024: #3,689, 2025: #5,1371 in 90,645 boys in E&W, 2025#5,137 · falling · was #1,673 in 2015

Boy’s name · from a surname · /kiːθ/

Try with your surname

What Keith means

Means “wood”

As a Scottish surname, from the placename in Moray, Scotland, from Scottish Gaelic Cèith, meaning "wood" or "from the battleground," which is probably borrowed from Pictish *ᚉᚓᚈ (cēt) meaning "wood", or a forest, from Proto-Brythonic *koɨd.

Source: Wiktionary, “Keith” (revision 94540754), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Keith?

US 2025
#800
311 babies
▼ 44 vs 2024
England & Wales 2025
#5137
3 babies
▼ 1448 vs 2024
Scotland 2025
#647
4 babies

US: Falling: down from #424 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1673 in 2015.

0246818801920196020002025
US, 1880–2025England & Wales, 1996–2025Babies per 1,000 boys born. Dot: biggest US share (1966)

Biggest US share so far: 1966, when 11,614 boys got the name (#32 that year). First in the US records in 1888.

How common

  • About 1 in 5,492 baby boys in the US in 2025
  • About 1 in 90,645 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
  • About 1 in 4,910 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MO (0.47 per 1,000 boys), SC (0.47 per 1,000 boys), LA (0.42 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

AK
ME
WI
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
HI
TX
FL
FewerMore · grey: under 5 babies, not listed

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Keith is #800 in the US and #5137 in England & Wales (2025).

Rank 2025BabiesHow commonRank 2015
US#8003111 in 5,492#424
England & Wales#513731 in 90,645#1673
Scotland#64741 in 4,910–

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Keith were boys.

GirlsBoys
US 20250311
England & Wales 202503
US all years since 18802,216437,907
England & Wales since 19960633

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

/kiːθ/

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

  • Gaith7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Keith

Boys

  • Curtis#984“polite, courteous”
  • Travis#434“to cross over”
  • Corey#778possibly “troop, host, company”
  • Douglas#807“black + stream”
  • Taylor#683From the word “tailor”
  • Nelson#824“son of Nicholas”

For a sister

  • Tiffany#878Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1988, with 18,364 babies; 304 in 2025
  • Kelsey#814Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #343 in 2015, #814 in 2025
  • Kelly#851Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 18,234 babies; 319 in 2025
  • Ashley#164“ash tree + wood, clearing”
  • Kimberly#302Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #108 in 2015, #302 in 2025
  • Lacey#738Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 2,399 babies; 370 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Keith’s. Rank is US 2025.

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