Keldon
Masculine
The unit of absolute temperature is named after a Scottish river. William Thomson took the title Lord Kelvin from the Kelvin, which runs past Glasgow University, and the kelvin scale carries the river's name into every physics textbook in the world.
How old is the name Keldon?
Keldon first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Keldon alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 600 people named Keldon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keldon most popular?
Keldon peaked in 2001, reaching #2931 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 5,979 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Where it comes from
From Kelvin to Keldon
Our story of Keldon
William Thomson was made a peer in 1892 and had to choose a territorial designation. He picked the River Kelvin, a small tributary of the Clyde that runs past the university where he had worked since he was twenty-two. When the absolute temperature scale was formally named for him in 1954, the river's name went with it, so the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature is a Glasgow burn. This is worth setting beside how the Kel- syllable actually travels in American naming, which is by sound rather than by any of that. A parent reaching for Kel- is reaching for Kelvin, Kelly and Kelsey at once, none of which carries the river with it, and the syllable arrives stripped of every attachment it once had. That is the ordinary fate of a name element: it survives as a shape, and its history stays behind.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Keldon has no inherited etymology. It joins a Kel- opening, most likely taken from Kelvin or Kelly, to the -don ending common in English place names. Kelvin is a genuine Scottish river name of uncertain, probably Gaelic, origin; Kelly is Irish, from O Ceallaigh. Neither carries meaning into this combination. The peak is 2001.
How the name formed
- Kelvin
- Keldon
Related forms: Kelden · Kelton
Pronouncing Keldon
KEL-dun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Keldon and Kelden are homophones, because the second syllable is unstressed and its vowel is a schwa.
Nicknames for Keldon
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
- 1967
- Most boys named
- 200131 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2931reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%8 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.
Keldon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kelden in English — spelling variant
- Kelton in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Keldons among us
people named Keldon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Keldon
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 Babatunde test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keldon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Babatunde climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Babatunde's path sketches the road Keldon is walking now.
Keldon 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
Keldon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Keldon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kel and Don both work as short forms.
- The pronunciation is obvious from the spelling.
- It matches a familiar English name pattern.
- Kelton and Kelden compete closely.
- It names no actual place, unlike the names it resembles.
- It has no meaning in any language.
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What they receive
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Keldon
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Keldons 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 Keldon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keldon in 2025?
- Keldon ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Keldon?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Keldon — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Keldon with classmates?
- Keldon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Keldon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keldon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Keldon and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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