How common is the surname Keene?

17,711 people in the United States had the surname Keene in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,432 Americans. It ranked 2,032nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Keene?

Mimi Keene, British actress, followed by Foxhall Keene.

Where is the surname Keene most common?

Wikidata records people named Keene in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

How do you pronounce Keene?

Keene is /kiːn/, one syllable.

Is the surname Keene getting more or less common?

More common. 17,161 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,711 in 2010, up 3.2%.

The surname Keene

A surname, carried by 17,711 people in the United States.

Pronounced /kiːn/ 1 syllable Soundex K500

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Keene is more common than 98.7% of them.

Origin

An English surname from Old English, a variant of Keen.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 17,711 people named Keene in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 17,432 Americans. That is up 3.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,161.

#2,032

rank among US surnames

17,711

people in 2010

6.0

per 100,000 Americans

+3.2%

change since 2000 (was #1,925)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,023	Moreland	17,832	17,314
#2,024	Lorenzo	17,825	17,321
#2,025	Longoria	17,818	17,328
#2,026	Pelletier	17,808	17,337
#2,027	Sneed	17,804	17,341
#2,028	Skaggs	17,778	17,367
#2,029	Alcala	17,758	17,386

Who is named Keene

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

85% of people named Keene identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.3% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 85%
Black (not Hispanic) 8.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
Two or more races 2.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Keenes

8 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Mimi Keene
British actress, born 1998
Foxhall Keene
American racecar driver, equestrian, polo player, amateur golfer (1867–1941)
Tom Keene
American actor (1896-1963)
Laura Keene
Actress and manager, 1826–1873
David Keene
American activist, 1945–2026
Day Keene
American writer and screenwriter (1904-1969)
Phillip P. Keene
American actor, born 1966
Marcus Keene
American basketball player (born 1995)

Notable Keenes come mostly from the United States (6), the United Kingdom (1) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Keene

Keene has the Soundex code K500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K500.

Questions

How common is the surname Keene?: 17,711 people in the United States had the surname Keene in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,432 Americans. It ranked 2,032nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Keene?: In the 2010 Census, 85% of people named Keene identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.3% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Keene?: Mimi Keene, British actress, followed by Foxhall Keene.
Where is the surname Keene most common?: Wikidata records people named Keene in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
How do you pronounce Keene?: Keene is /kiːn/, one syllable.
Is the surname Keene getting more or less common?: More common. 17,161 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,711 in 2010, up 3.2%.