boy's name
Keith
KEETH
- Origin Scottish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 1
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 456,869
the United States
#800
2025 births
Keith is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, probably from a Brittonic word for a wood. It peaked in 1957 and is falling, and it now ranks 6192nd in England and Wales — very nearly its weakest market anywhere.
- Keith is a name of Scottish origin.
- Peaked in 1957, when 12,483 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 10,660 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1888.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Keith over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 12 |
| 1890s | 86 |
| 1900s | 289 |
| 1910s | 3,455 |
| 1920s | 11,030 |
| 1930s | 13,961 |
| 1940s | 25,994 |
| 1950s | 91,546 |
| 1960s | 113,110 |
| 1970s | 77,159 |
| 1980s | 53,046 |
| 1990s | 28,464 |
| 2000s | 12,551 |
| 2010s | 7,086 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,334 |
What Keith means
Keith probably means a wood or forest, from a Brittonic word. The derivation is not certain, and the name identifies a place in East Lothian rather than describing a person.
Where Keith comes from
Keith is a Scottish place name in East Lothian, taken as a surname by the family who held the hereditary office of Marischal of Scotland from the twelfth century. The place name is generally derived from a Brittonic word related to the Welsh coed, a wood — Brittonic having been spoken across southern Scotland before Gaelic and English displaced it — though the derivation is not secure. The Keiths were among the most powerful Scottish families until the tenth Earl Marischal forfeited everything for backing the Jacobite rising of 1715. Use as a given name is nineteenth-century and became overwhelmingly American in volume.
Keith in use
Keith peaked in the United States in 1957, when 12,483 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 644th in Ireland on 5 births, 800th in the United States on 311, 6101st in France and 6192nd in England and Wales on 3, across 456,869 lifetime births. Ranking past 6,000 in England and Wales is a remarkably weak showing for a name of British origin, and it is now used more in Ireland than anywhere else in these islands.
How popular is Keith?
In 2025, Keith was given to 311 babies in the United States, ranking #800 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Keith is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Keith
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Keith also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Keith over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Keith in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Keath
Sibling names for Keith
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Keith — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Keith
What does the name Keith mean?
Probably a wood, from a Brittonic word related to the Welsh coed — though the derivation is not secure.
Is Keith a Scottish name?
Yes, from a place in East Lothian and the family who were hereditary Marischals of Scotland.
Why is Keith so rare in England now?
It ranks 6192nd in England and Wales — its measured use is now higher in Ireland and the United States.
How popular is Keith?
800th in the United States, down from a 1957 peak of 12,483 births.
Is Keith a girl's or a boy's name?
Keith is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Keith?
Keith has 1 syllable.
Is Keith a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Keith currently ranks #644 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.