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Name Lineage

    The surname Keaton

    A place surname, carried by 9,723 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈkitən/ 2 syllables Soundex K350 Also a first name

    Keaton: #3,656 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Keaton #3,656, 9,723 people Keaton: #3,656 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Keaton #3,656, 9,723 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Keaton is more common than 97.7% of them.

    Origin

    A variant of Caton or Keeton, or a habitational name from Keaton in Ermington, Devon, possibly derived from Welsh cae (“hedge, enclosure”) + Middle English toun (“farmstead, settlement”).

    Keaton is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 9,723 people named Keaton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 31,754 Americans. That is up 17% since 2000, when the Census counted 8,333.

    #3,656
    rank among US surnames
    9,723
    people in 2010
    3.3
    per 100,000 Americans
    +16.7%
    change since 2000 (was #3,918)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #3,653Latimer9,73331,722
    #3,654Cha9,73231,725
    #3,655Melo9,73131,728
    #3,656Keaton9,72331,754

    Who is named Keaton

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    69% of people named Keaton identified as white (not Hispanic), 25% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 69%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 25%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
    • Two or more races 1.6%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Keatons

    6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Buster Keaton
      American actor, comedian, and director (1895–1966)
    • Diane Keaton
      American actress and film director (1946–2025)
    • Michael Keaton
      American actor (born 1951)
    • Josh Keaton
      American actor, born 1979
    • Camille Keaton
      American actress, born 1947
    • Joe Keaton
      American actor (1867-1946)

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Keaton

    Keaton has the Soundex code K350, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K350.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Keaton come from?
    A variant of Caton or Keeton, or a habitational name from Keaton in Ermington, Devon, possibly derived from Welsh cae (“hedge, enclosure”) + Middle English toun (“farmstead, settlement”).
    How common is the surname Keaton?
    9,723 people in the United States had the surname Keaton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,754 Americans. It ranked 3,656th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Keaton?
    In the 2010 Census, 69% of people named Keaton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 25% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Keaton?
    Buster Keaton, American actor, comedian, and director (1895–1966), followed by Diane Keaton.
    Where is the surname Keaton most common?
    Wikidata records people named Keaton in the United States.
    How do you pronounce Keaton?
    Keaton is /ˈkitən/, 2 syllables.
    What type of surname is Keaton?
    Keaton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Keaton getting more or less common?
    More common. 8,333 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,723 in 2010, up 17%.
    Is Keaton also a first name?
    Yes. Keaton is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.