Keno
Masculine
Keno the game came a long way. A Chinese lottery reached the United States with nineteenth-century migration, took a French name, quine, from the five numbers on a lottery card, and became the American keno. The given name is almost certainly not that at all.
How old is the name Keno?
Keno first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Keno alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 600 people named Keno are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keno most popular?
Keno peaked in 1974, reaching #2050 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 4,753 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Keno
Short names ending in a bare vowel are common in American records and almost impossible to trace, because they can be produced by half a dozen different routes at once: a clip of a longer name, a prefix plus a syllable, a borrowing, or a nickname registered as a name. Keno is one of these. It is a plausible clip of Kenneth, a plausible member of the Ke- prefix family that also produced Kemon and Keshawn, and a real name in more than one other language. Its American record peaks in 1974, which places it with the prefix families rather than with the nineteenth-century game, and the honest position is that no one route can be claimed.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The gambling game's name is French quine, from Latin quini, five each, applied to a Chinese lottery in nineteenth-century America. The given name Keno is much more likely a clip of Kenneth or a Ke- prefix coinage, and it also exists independently in Japanese and in Ghanaian naming. No single source can be assigned.
Pronouncing Keno
KEE-noh
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Some families say KAY-noh, and the spelling does not settle between them.
Nicknames for Keno
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
- 1947
- Most boys named
- 197522 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2050reached in 1974
- Change vs 2024
- +71.4%12 in 2025, from 7
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.
Keno in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kino in English — spelling variant
- Keno in Japanese — related form
Kenos among us
people named Keno are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Keno
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 Rees test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keno's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rees climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rees's path sketches the road Keno is walking now.
Keno 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
Keno beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Keno in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty.
- Open syllables throughout, so it is easy for speakers of any language.
- Ken is available as a familiar long form.
- It shares a spelling with a widely played gambling game.
- Two pronunciations circulate and the spelling does not choose.
- The name has no settled origin or meaning.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Keno to the vote.
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What they receive
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Keno
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kenos 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 Keno are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keno in 2025?
- Keno ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Keno?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Keno — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Keno with classmates?
- Keno will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Keno
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keno? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Keno and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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