The Keen surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 18,459 people carried this name — #1,959 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 16,000 people counted. That is up 7% from 17,320 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Keen surname

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as a nickname: ‘the keen’ — the first of the origins he gives.

An early record he cites: Hugh le Kene, Oxfordshire, 1273 — Hundred Rolls.

His entry covers Kean, Keen, Keene, Keane and Kene.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 440 · public domain.

In Argentina’s national register

At least 57 people named Keen live in Argentina.

RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in City of Buenos Aires.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

City of Buenos Aires 31
Buenos Aires Province 26

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

In the Nordic population registers

28 people named Keen is counted in Sweden.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 28

Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Keen was found among the farmers of 6 counties.

It was most frequent in Buckinghamshire: 55 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 182. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent. His list gives one count for the spellings Keen and Keene.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Buckinghamshire 55
Gloucestershire 30
Somerset 19
Monmouthshire 17
Surrey 15
Suffolk 9

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.

In Scotland’s registers today

Keen was recorded 15 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 1427th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 15. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

162 families named Keen, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 897 people lived in those households, 5.5 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 8 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 45
Massachusetts 30
Maine 27
Virginia 17
North Carolina 14
New York 13
Maryland 9
South Carolina 5
Rhode Island 2

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 248 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Keen in American newspapers,
1879–1913.

Newspaper page from The Evening Times carrying the name Keen
The Evening Times 1896-08-15
Newspaper page from The Republican Journal carrying the name Keen
The Republican Journal 1913-03-27
Newspaper page from The Grant County Herald carrying the name Keen
The Grant County Herald 1879-09-20

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 10,141 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Keen in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2000s.

42,341 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Keen. The most, 7,073, date from the 1930s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Tasmania, at 2.4 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 11,086
Queensland 8,539
Victoria 6,791
South Australia 6,550
Tasmania 6,344
Western Australia 2,676
ACT (Canberra) 216
Northern Territory 81

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Keen.

Who carried it

People named Keen,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Elizabeth Keen White
    Elizabeth Keen White 1827–1892 · scientific illustrator
  • Mary A. E. Keen
    Mary A. E. Keen 1835–1922
  • Earl Keen d. 1973 · actor
  • Mary Elizabeth Money d. 2022 · nurse
  • Elsie Keen d. 1970
  • William Keen 1680–1754 · judge

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Keen,
in the records of 8 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States1,434 records

1,434 records of the Keen name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 576
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 227
  • Other U.S. records 631
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Daryl Laverne Keen

    Born 1944; from Santa Cruz, California. U.S. Navy, quartermaster; died in an accident 1965 in Quang Tin, South Vietnam. Buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery, California.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Clement S. Keen

    Born 1921 in New Jersey. Enlisted 1942 at Camden; aircraft worker from Burlington County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1997, buried at Mount Holly Cemetery, New Jersey.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Frederica Keen

    Arrived at New York in 1840 aboard the Splendid from Bremen, aged 14; farmer. From Stadhelm, Germany.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 1,434 records for Keen in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Netherlands1,200 records

1,200 records of the Keen name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 787
  • Dutch population registers 378
  • Dutch church registers before 1811 35
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Roelof Keen

    Married in 1874 in Sleen; farmer. Died 1911 in Sleen, aged 71.

    Open Archives, Drents Archief (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Ziena Keen

    Married in 1910 in Oosterhesselen; maidservant. Died 1966 in Enschede.

    Open Archives, Drents Archief (CC BY 4.0); Open Archives, Stadsarchief Enschede (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Christina Keen

    Married in 1839 in Delfzijl; born 1816 in Gorinchem. Died 1897 in Bergen op Zoom.

    Open Archives, Groninger Archieven (CC BY 4.0); Open Archives, Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 1,200 records for Keen in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

Australia827 records

827 records of the Keen name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 403
  • Tasmanian Names Index 147
  • Other Australian records 277
  1. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Joseph Keen

    Died 1892 in Hobart, Tasmania, aged 73. Will registered in Tasmania in 1892.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record James Keen

    Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1853. Married 1853 in Hobart, Tasmania, aged 34.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Joseph Keen

    Transported to New South Wales aboard the Baring, arriving 1819; ticket of leave 1832. Native of Leicester.

    Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY)

Showing 3 of 827 records for Keen in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain); Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain).

Canada123 records

123 records of the Keen name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 54
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 22
  • Other Canadian records 47
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Thos Keen

    Came to Ontario in 1879 aboard the Dominion, landing at Quebec, bound for Chatham, Ontario; English.

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  2. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Walter Keen

    Died 1988, aged 81; buried at Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg.
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Margaret A. Keen

    Died 1947 in Digby, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Showing 3 of 123 records for Keen in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

United Kingdom55 records

55 records of the Keen name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 39
  • St James's burial ground, Euston (London), 1789–1853 14
  • Other British records 2
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Clara M. Keen

    Died 1933, aged 64; buried at Bannockburn Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland.

    Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  2. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Frederick Keen

    Will proved in 1941; of Swansea.

    National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)
  3. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record W. E. Keen

    Royal Engineers. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 55 records for Keen in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0) · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).

New Zealand30 records

30 records of the Keen name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 25
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 2
  • Other New Zealand records 3
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Timothy Keen

    Died 1968, aged 74; buried at Sydenham Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record George Henry Keen

    Buried in 1958 at Buffalo Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 75.

    Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Edward Keen

    Died 1953, aged 74; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 30 records for Keen in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Germany9 records

9 records of the Keen name in Germany
  • Germany's First World War casualty lists, 1914–1919 8
  • German emigration and citizenship files 1
  1. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Jean Keen

    From Adorf, Bentheim. Reported dead in the Prussian casualty list of 10 December 1914 (Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 4).

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)
  2. The first page of an emigration file from Gündlingen, Baden, 1883
    Example: German emigration file, 1883
    Emigration record Friedrich Wilhelm Keen

    Emigrated to North America in 1868.

    Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek / Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv (CC0)

Showing 2 of 9 records for Keen in Germany.

Counts: Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0) · Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Deutsche Verlustlisten, Prussian list 1116, 18 April 1918 (scan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0); Emigration file, Gündlingen, 1883, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg B 694/1 Nr. 1389 (CC BY 4.0).

France2 records

2 records of the Keen name in France France's national death register, 1970–2001
  1. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Michel Marc Keen

    Born 1964 in Paris; died 1991 in Saint-Louis (Haut-Rhin).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 1 of 2 records for Keen in France.

Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).

Other spellings of this name

The same name, spelled another way.

Spellings that H. B. Guppy (England and Wales, 1890) or the Registrar-General for Ireland (births index of 1890) counted as one name together with Keen.

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Keen.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Keen is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Keen volume
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