Explore the Family Name Keelan

The meaning of Keelan

1. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Céileacháin, from céileachán, a diminutive of céile ‘companion’. 2. Welsh: habitational name for someone from any of various townships called Cilan (from cilan ‘corner, angle’), especially one in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd (Denbighshire).

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Keelan in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Keelan saw a slight decrease in rank from 2000 to 2010, moving from 29,516 to 30,735. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with this surname marginally increased by 0.53%, with a total count of 758 in 2010 compared to 754 in 2000. It is worth noting that the proportion per 100,000 people also decreased slightly by 7.14%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#29,516	#30,735	-4.13%
Count	754	758	0.53%
Proportion per 100k	0.28	0.26	-7.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Keelan

In terms of ethnicity distribution, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows some interesting shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals with the surname Keelan identified as White, although this percentage dropped slightly from 92.84% in 2000 to 89.97% in 2010. There was a noticeable increase in those identifying as Hispanic, rising from 2.52% to 4.22%. Smaller increases were also seen among those identifying as Black or two or more races. Interestingly, in 2010, there was a small representation of Asian/Pacific Islander which was not present in 2000. The percentage of American Indian and Alaskan Native remained constant at zero for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.84%	89.97%	-3.09%
Hispanic	2.52%	4.22%	67.46%
Two or More Races	1.86%	2.24%	20.43%
Black	1.59%	2.24%	40.88%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.32%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%