Key
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Key has been given to 176 babies in the U.S. since 1914. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1993, with 12 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 94% boys, 6% girls all-time.
Babies named Key, 2024
1 in 478,000
Key over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Key over time
In 2024, Key went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Key?
Key had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2024
- 1 in 478,000
- 7 of 3,342,801 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 246,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2024
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 331,009 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Key sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 331,009 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Key. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Keys were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Key was born before 1993 — so the typical Key is around 32 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1990s
- 31.3% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 28.3%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 151
- People you could plausibly meet
1990s — 31.3% of all recorded uses (52).
Is Key rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1993 (12)
- Years since peak
- 32
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Steady
- 9.9% average annual change
Key around the world
Where Key ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- South Australia1996–1996#540in 1996
Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Key by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Key
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Key
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.