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Keary vs Keaton

American parents have registered 23,505 Keatons since 1880, against 684 Kearys. Keaton is still ahead, with 419 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Keary against Keaton, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Keary Keaton

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 76 years in which either name was published, Keaton for 49 years and Keary for 27 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Keary Keaton
Total US births 68423,505
Most in one year 40930
Babies in 2025 under 5419
Estimated living today 59023,000
Median age today 5219
Peak year 19742007
Best rank 1,520th boys358th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked769th
First recorded 19491925
Girls / boys 104 / 5801,418 / 22,087

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kearys alive today are over 52; half the Keatons are over 19. That is 33 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Keary and Keaton.