Keefe
Masculine · “gentle”
Keefe is an Irish surname used as a first name, cut loose from the particle that normally stands in front of it. That particle was dropped by most Irish families under English rule and deliberately put back within the last century or so.
How old is the name Keefe?
Keefe first appears in US birth records in 1952 — 73 years ago. The typical Keefe alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 600 people named Keefe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keefe most popular?
Keefe peaked in 1963, reaching #1354 nationally. See the whole 1963 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Caoimh to Keefe
The story of Keefe
Irish surnames beginning with Ó or Mac lost their particles in bulk. Under the penal era and the anglicization of records, clerks, landlords and schoolmasters wrote the names without them, and Irish families who wanted to pass in English-speaking society let them go — so the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are full of Connells, Briens and Sullivans whose grandfathers had the Ó. The restoration was deliberate and recent. With the Gaelic revival and then independence, families and individuals began putting the particle back, sometimes formally, sometimes by simply writing it, and the proportion of O' surnames in Ireland rose sharply within a couple of generations. A surname there can therefore date a family's politics as well as its descent.
Meaning
gentle
The surname descends from a personal name built on an Irish adjective usually read as gentle, kind or beloved. The English gloss is approximate: the Irish word covers a range that no single English adjective matches.
How the name formed
- Ó Caoimh
- O'Keeffe
- Keefe
Related forms: Ó Caoimh
Pronouncing Keefe
KEEF
One syllable. The final e is silent and belongs to the surname's English spelling rather than to the Irish word behind it.
Nicknames for Keefe
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1952
- Most boys named
- 196333 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1354reached in 1963
- Change vs 2010
- −16.7%5 in 2012, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Keefe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Caoimh in Irish — related form
Keefes among us
people named Keefe are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Keefe sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable is quick, clear and hard to mishear across a room.
- The surname behind it is genuinely old and documented.
- It is rare as a first name while being entirely familiar as a name.
- O'Keefe and O'Keeffe are both far commoner and will be written for it.
- It reads as a surname, so strangers will assume it is a family name.
- The English gloss is an approximation of an Irish word with a wider range.
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Keefe
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Keefes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Keefe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keefe in 2025?
- Keefe is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Keefe with classmates?
- Keefe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Kenneth#294 · Kevin#221 · Kyle#508 · Keith#800 · Karl#1585 · Kaleb#295 · Kurt#2258 · Kelly#1867
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keefe? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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