# Keeley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/keeley/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,578 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,141 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 55,351 people |
| Change since 2000 | +8.0% (5,166 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Kealey, Kealy, Keely |

## Etymology

Reduced Anglicized from Irish Ó Caollaidhe (“descendant of Caollaidhe”), a personal name based on the adjective caol (“slender, graceful”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Keeley in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 92% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Keeley in the United States.

## People named Keeley

- Sam Keeley, American actor
- James Edward Keeler, American astronomer (1857–1900)

## Similar surnames

Kelly, Kelley, Keel, Keele, Kiely, Klee, Keely, Kyle, Kohl, Kiley, Keil, Kuhl.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.