Key

31,773 people in the United States were counted with the surname Key in the 2020 census, making it the 1,083rd most common in the country. That is about one person in 9,407.

By the numbers

People: 31,773
Rank: 1,083rd
How common: 1 in 9,407
Per 100,000: 10.6

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Key described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 65.8%
Black, not Hispanic 23.9%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 5.0%
Hispanic or Latino 3.4%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 1.0%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.9%

Notable people called Key

John Key (born 1961)Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016
Ellen Key (1849–1926)Swedish writer
Keegan-Michael Key (born 1971)American actor and comedian
Francis Scott Key (1779–1843)American lawyer and poet who wrote The Star-Spangled Banner
Key (born 1991)South Korean singer, dance, actor and model
Kelly Key (born 1983)Brazilian singer
James Key (born 1972)British engineer
Lieven de Key (1560–1627)Flemish architect active in the Dutch Republic

People named Key with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Key

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.