Humanverse

Keanu vs Kearsten

American parents have registered 8,920 Keanus since 1880, against 530 Kearstens. Keanu is still ahead, with 427 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Keanu against Kearsten, 1880 to 2025 0 150 300 450 600 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Keanu Kearsten

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 42 years in which either name was published, Keanu for 35 years and Kearsten for 7 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Keanu Kearsten
Total US births 8,920530
Most in one year 56232
Babies in 2025 427under 5
Estimated living today 8,800520
Median age today 1126
Peak year 20202001
Best rank 515th boys3,940th girls
Rank in 2025 648thunranked
First recorded 19901978
Girls / boys 225 / 8,695530 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kearstens alive today are over 26; half the Keanus are over 11. That is 15 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Keanu and Kearsten.