Keifer
Masculine · “German Kiefer”
German Kiefer is two words that fell together. One means a pine tree, the other means a jaw, and they come from entirely different roots; German simply ended up spelling them the same way.
How old is the name Keifer?
Keifer first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Keifer alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 1,100 people named Keifer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keifer most popular?
Keifer peaked in 1991, reaching #920 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,775 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kiefer to Keifer
The story of Keifer
The German noun Kiefer meaning a pine comes from an old compound of the words for pine and torch-wood; the noun Kiefer meaning a jaw comes from a different root entirely, related to the word for a cheek. They converged in spelling and stayed distinct in gender, one masculine and one feminine, which is how German speakers keep them apart. The surname draws on the tree, on the pine forests of the south and west, and on the trade of coopering, and it reached America with German immigration. Its modern American visibility comes from one actor, born in London in 1966 and named after a screenwriter his parents knew, whose run of films around 1990 put the spelling in front of a large audience.
Meaningscholars disagree
German Kiefer, a pine or a cooper
Kiefer is a German surname, from the pine tree, from an occupational term for a cooper, or from Kufe, a vat. The German word for a jaw is a separate word with the same spelling. Keifer is an American variant; its peak is 1991.
How the name formed
- Kiefer
- Keifer
Related forms: Kiefer · Kiefer
Pronouncing Keifer
KEE-fur
Two syllables, stress on the first. German says it the same way; the ie digraph is a long e in both languages.
Nicknames for Keifer
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 1991131 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #920reached in 1991
- Change vs 2021
- −25.0%6 in 2025, from 8
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.
Keifer in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kiefer in German — spelling variant
- Kiefer in English — spelling variant
Keifers among us
people named Keifer are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Keifer
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Corwin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keifer's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Corwin climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Corwin's path sketches the road Keifer is walking now.
Keifer 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Keifer beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Keifer in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and six letters.
- It is a genuine German surname with a documented meaning.
- Keif works as a short form.
- Kiefer is the standard German spelling.
- One actor dominates the association.
- The 1991 peak dates this form.
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What they receive
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Keifer
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Keifers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Keifer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keifer in 2025?
- Keifer ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Keifer?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Keifer — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Keifer with classmates?
- Keifer will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Keifer
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keifer? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Keifer and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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