Keeley
Feminine · “slender”
Keeley is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 6,692 girls against 49 boys since 1880.
Keeley is Ó Caolaidhe anglicized — descendant of the slender one — from the Irish caol, which is still the ordinary word for narrow or thin.
How old is the name Keeley?
Keeley first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Keeley alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 6,600 people named Keeley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keeley most popular?
Keeley peaked in 1997, reaching #899 nationally. Today it ranks #1561, 662 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Where it comes from
From caol to Keeley
The story of Keeley
Ó Caolaidhe families were recorded in Leinster, and the surname was anglicized as Keeley, Kealy and Queally. Irish surnames became given names in Britain and America in the twentieth century, and Keeley rose in Britain in the 1980s after a television actress of the name. It appears in the American registers from the 1990s and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
slender, graceful
From the Irish Ó Caolaidhe, from caol, 'slender' or 'narrow'. A second reading takes the surname from cadhla, 'beautiful', which would make it a cousin of Kiley. Both are documented anglicizations and the American name descends from either.
How the name formed
- caol
- Ó Caolaidhe
- Keeley
Related forms: Ó Caolaidhe · Kealey · Keely
Pronouncing Keeley
KEE-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Keeley, Keely and Kealey are said identically.
Nicknames for Keeley
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
- 1957
- Most girls named
- 2007253 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #899reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%135 in 2025, from 135
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.
Keeley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Caolaidhe in Irish — related form
- Kealey in English — spelling variant
- Keely in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Illinois.
Keeleys among us
people named Keeley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,906 born in 2025 was named Keeley
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Keeley
- #1561
- Keeley on the 2025 chart
- #810
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Keeley went to 135 girls in 2025, but Kelley is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 150, which makes it the 810th most-given girls’ name of the year — 751 places above the chart.
- Keeley135
- Kelley15
About 1 girl in 10,715 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 11,906 for Keeley itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Bebe test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keeley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bebe climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bebe's path sketches the road Keeley is walking now.
Keeley is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Keeley is headed
Keeley looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 41% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Keeley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Keeley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Leinster family stands behind it.
- The slender reading is transparent and caol is still ordinary Irish.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The root is genuinely split between two Irish words.
- At least three spellings of the sound are in common use.
- Kiley and Kylie are close enough to cause confusion.
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What they receive
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Keeley
Feminine · #1561 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Keeleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,600 people named Keeley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Keeley?
- Keeley is the most-used spelling in US records — 135 of the 150 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kelley.
- How popular is the name Keeley in 2025?
- Keeley ranks #1561 among US girl names in 2025, with 135 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Keeley?
- About 1 in every 11,906 US girls born in 2025 was named Keeley — 135 in all.
- Will my child share the name Keeley with classmates?
- Keeley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Keeley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kalina#1561 · Kollins#1561 · Ela#1561 · Eliani#1561 · Frida#1561 · Rayla#1561 · Delia#1561 · Emori#1561
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keeley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Keeley and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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