Keiona
Feminine
Keiona contains the name of a Scottish island, by accident — and the island's own name exists because somebody once miscopied a letter and nobody noticed for centuries.
How old is the name Keiona?
Keiona first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Keiona alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 900 people named Keiona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keiona most popular?
Keiona peaked in 1996, reaching #2423 nationally. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Keiona
The island where Columba landed was called Ioua. A scribe copying an early life of the saint wrote the last letter as an n instead of a u — an easy slip in medieval handwriting, where the two are nearly identical strokes — and the form Iona was copied from that copy and from every copy after it. By the time anybody noticed, the wrong spelling was the name of one of the most important religious sites in the British Isles, and it has never been corrected. Names are full of this kind of accident and almost none of them can be traced; this one can, which makes it a useful reminder that a name does not have to be right to be real.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source. The front is one of the American prefixes and the rest is a pleasant sound; the resemblance to the island name is a coincidence of syllables rather than a borrowing.
Pronouncing Keiona
kee-OH-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Kay-OH-nuh is also heard and the spelling does not settle it.
Nicknames for Keiona
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 199653 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2423reached in 1996
- Change vs 2020
- −44.4%5 in 2021, from 9
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.
Keionas among us
people named Keiona 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
Keiona 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
- It is soft, open and easy for a child at any age.
- The rhythm is strong and the middle stress carries.
- It shortens to a name that stands on its own.
- Keona, Kiona and Keyona are all in the record and hers will be written as one of them.
- Two pronunciations are possible from the spelling.
- The island it resembles is not its source.
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Keiona
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Keionas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Keiona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keiona in 2025?
- Keiona is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Keiona with classmates?
- Keiona will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keiona? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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