Head to head · Boys' names
Kasai vs Keanu
#639 vs #648 in 2025
Kasai is a whisker ahead (#639 vs #648 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Kasai is climbing the charts fast, Keanu is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Kasai and Keanu each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1990s: Kasai #8445, Keanu #1382 — Keanu higher
- 2000s: Kasai #7815, Keanu #930 — Keanu higher
- 2010s: Kasai #6205, Keanu #1051 — Keanu higher
- 2020s: Kasai #2046, Keanu #576 — Keanu higher
Keanu stood higher in every recorded decade — 4 of 4.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Kasai | Keanu |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | #8445 | #1382 |
| 2000s | #7815 | #930 |
| 2010s | #6205 | #1051 |
| 2020s | #2046 | #576 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Kasai
Not established
No settled meaning attaches to Kasai as a given name. What is documented is where the word already lives: the Kasai River and the Kasai provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and, in Japan, the surname and place name Kasai — a district of eastern Tokyo and a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, written with several different sets of kanji depending on the family.
How it traveled
Kasai reached English speakers as a name on a map before it was a name for a child. The Kasai is a major river of Central Africa, long enough and important enough that the surrounding region and its provinces carry the name; European atlases print it as Kasaï, in the French spelling used across the Congo.
Keanu
the coolness; the cool breeze
Hawaiian ke (the definite article) plus anu (coolness, chill). English sources often expand it to "cool breeze over the mountains," which is a poetic reading of the same two words rather than a separate meaning.
ke anu (Hawaiian, "the coolness") → Keanu
How it traveled
Keanu comes straight out of the Hawaiian language, where ke anu is ordinary vocabulary before it is ever a name — the sort of naming tradition that draws on weather, place and plant. It reached the continental United States mainly through the actor Keanu Reeves, whose father's family was Hawaiian, and mainland records for the name begin only after his career did.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Kasai
kah-SIGH
Most American speakers land on two beats, kah-SIGH, with stress at the end. The Japanese name is three even beats, KAH-sah-ee, and the Congo river is often said kah-sah-EE. All are defensible, so whichever you choose you will be correcting people occasionally.
- Kas — The obvious first-syllable shortening; informal, not an inherited tradition, since the name is too new to have built one.
- Sai — Informal clipping of the back half; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Kai — Used informally by families who want a one-syllable call name; a very well-established independent given name in the US.
Keanu
kee-AH-noo
That is the common American English pronunciation. In Hawaiian the first syllable is closer to keh, giving keh-AH-noo; both are heard, and Hawaiian speakers will generally use the latter.
- Kea — The usual informal clipping; also stands on its own as a Hawaiian given name and surname.
- K — Initial-only nickname, used casually among friends and teammates rather than by family.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Kasai if you want…
- a name on the way upup 1,828 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesKasai is 2 syllables to Keanu's 3
- a name that feels very nowKasai is climbing the charts fast
Choose Keanu if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsKeanu is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itKeanu runs 3 syllables, Kasai 2
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 64% for Kasai
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Kasai
Strengths
- Only five letters and three plain vowels — people who hear it can usually spell it, and people who read it are close on the first try.
- Already exists as a real word on the map and in Japanese family registers, so it is a found name rather than a coined one.
- Sits alongside the well-worn Kai, Rai and Zai sounds, so it is unfamiliar as a whole without being unfamiliar in its parts.
To consider
- Stress and syllable count are genuinely unsettled: kah-SIGH, KAH-sah-ee and kah-sah-EE are all heard. Decide which one is yours early, because you will be the one teaching it.
- Said aloud in Japanese, kasai is also the ordinary word for a fire or blaze (火災) — written with different characters from the surname, but the same sound. Worth knowing if the family has Japanese ties.
- He will almost certainly be the only Kasai anywhere in his school, which means no ready-made familiarity: expect Kasey, Kai and Cassie as the usual near-misses on forms and roll calls.
Keanu
Strengths
- Spelled exactly as it sounds in Hawaiian — five letters, no silent parts, no competing spellings in wide use.
- Widely recognized in the US thanks to one very well-known bearer, so most people will not ask twice how to say it.
- A transparent meaning in a living language, not a reconstruction: ke plus anu, the coolness.
To consider
- For most Americans the name points to a single famous actor. That association is friendly, but it will come up throughout a child's life, and it is likely to be the first thing anyone mentions.
- The vowel run invites errors: Kianu and Keanue in writing, kee-ANN-oo in speech. Nothing severe, just a lifetime of small corrections.
- It is a word from a living Hawaiian-language tradition. Families with no connection to Hawaii sometimes want to think that through, and some choose it anyway, with care about pronouncing it as Hawaiian speakers do.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Kasai
64%chance Kasai feels dated by 2040
Kasai is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Keanu
40%chance Keanu feels dated by 2040
Keanu sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Kasai and Keanu in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Kasai and Keanu?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Kasai and Keanu — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Kasai or Keanu — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Kasai or Keanu?
- Kasai, in 2025: Kasai ranked #639 with 437 babies; Keanu ranked #648 with 427 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Kasai or Keanu?
- Kasai. Over the last five years Kasai moved up 1,828 places; Keanu moved down 133 places.
- Which is the older name, Kasai or Keanu?
- Kasai entered the US charts in 1996; Keanu entered the US charts in 1990. On the American record, Keanu is the older name.
- How many people are named Kasai and Keanu?
- About 1,100 people named Kasai are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 8,600 people named Keanu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Kasais or Keanus in the classroom?
- Kasai will almost certainly be the only one in school. Keanu will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Kasai, Keanu and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap