Keeler
surname · Latin script
Meaning: boatman or boatbuilder, from Middle English kele 'ship'
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
/cʰejlə/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Keeler is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country.
- CACanada≈1 in 25K(inferred from the name graph)
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 26K
- USUnited States1 in 29K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- Sources
- 407 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 21K (inferred from the name graph)
11,546 people, 2010
Highest-authority source
Ireland, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
boatman or boatbuilder, from Middle English kele 'ship'.
Sources 1
- Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]
Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Keeler counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | — | 11,546 | 1 in 29K | 12K | Keeler | 407 |
| GB United Kingdom | — | ≈2,500 est. | ≈1 in 26K | listed | Keeler | 136 |
| CA Canada | — | ≈1,500 est. | ≈1 in 25K | — | Keeler | 104 |
| IT Italy | — | ≈1,000 est. | ≈1 in 61K | — | Keeler | 10 |
| DZ Algeria | — | ≈870 est. | ≈1 in 49K | — | Keeler | 2 |
| IE Ireland | — | ≈250 est. | ≈1 in 21K | — | Keeler | 18 |
| NZ New Zealand | — | ≈160 est. | ≈1 in 30K | — | Keeler | 17 |
| PS Palestine | #986 | ≈91 est. | ≈1 in 53K | — | Keeler | 2 |
11,546 people counted by Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010, 2010. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; the hanks-dictionary-surnames-1988 register. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Keeler is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In English, occupational name for a boatman or boatbuilder, from an agent derivative of Middle English kele ‘ship’, ‘barge’ (from Middle Dutch kiel).
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In English, boatman or boatbuilder, from ME kele ship, barge (a bor¬ rowing of MDu. kiel rather than a direct descendant of OE Vars. (of i): Keely, Keal(e)y; Queely, Queal(l)y; Kiely.
as a nameThe Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles
In English, Americanized spelling of German Kuhler, from a variant of an old personal name (see Keeling) or a variant of Kuhl.
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In English, One who works on a barge or keel.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In yol, A wooden vessel in which milk is set.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Harriet L. Keelerb. 1846USAmerican teacher, botanist, and author (1846–1921)
- Wee Willie Keelerb. 1872USAmerican baseball player (1872–1923)
- Harry Stephen Keelerb. 1890USNovelist, short story writer (1890-1967)
- Ruby Keelerb. 1909USAmerican actress, dancer, and singer (1910-1993)
- William Henry Keelerb. 1931USCatholic cardinal (1931–2017)
- Christine Keelerb. 1942GBEnglish model and showgirl (1942–2017)
- Jane Watersb. 1944USnot in their usual nameAmerican pornographic film director and cameraman
- Kathy Keelerb. 1956USAmerican rower
- Ken Keelerb. 1961USAmerican television writer and producer
- Justin Keelerb. 1978GBEnglish footballer (born 1978)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 25 sources across 14 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 12K | #3,124 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 11K | #3,040 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 11K | #3,245 |
| GB United Kingdom | A Dictionary of Surnames (Hanks & Hodges, 1988) | — | — | — |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 3
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Keeler mean, and where does it come from?
- boatman or boatbuilder, from Middle English kele 'ship'. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
- How do you pronounce Keeler?
- A machine transcription gives /cʰejlə/ (IPA) for English.
- In which country does Keeler have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 12 thousand people named Keeler, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled keeler.
- How common is the name Keeler?
- In the United States, the national register counted 11,546 people named Keeler in 2010, about 1 in 29 thousand residents.
- How common is Keeler compared with other names?
- In Palestine, Keeler is the 986th most common surname of 17,903 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Keeler?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/keelerThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Keeler” — the 986th most common surname in Palestine. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.