Nameling

Kealan

Gender
Boy
Say it
KEE-lun
Origin
Irish
US rank, 2025
#8,906 for boys

Kealan is a boys' name of Irish origin, meaning “slender”. In 2025 it ranked 8,906th for boys in the US (8 babies).

What does Kealan mean?

Irish: anglicised form of Caolán, from caol

“slender”

Caolán was borne by several early Irish saints.

Is Kealan a girl's or a boy's name?

Kealan is a boys' name. In 2025, it was given to 8 boys in the US. Too few girls were given it to be listed.

How popular is Kealan in the UK?

No boys in the UK were given it in 2025, or too few to be listed. Its busiest year was 1997, with 25 boys.

Half of all the boys named Kealan in the UK since 1996 were born between 2001 and 2013. It was already well used in 1996, when the records begin, so earlier boys aren't counted.

1996Busiest: 25 in 19972024
Kealan in the UK, year by year
YearBoysRank
20245#3,772
20237#2,965
20225#3,639
202111#2,100
20205#3,502
20195#3,597
20187#2,823
201717#1,563
201610#2,287
20157#2,855
201417#1,511
201320#1,347
201212#1,956
201120#1,338
201012#1,887
200919#1,340
200815#1,547
200716#1,458
20067#2,386
200521#1,098
200419#1,110
20039#1,723
200223#865
200120#913
200014#1,113
199914#1,087
199818#906
199725#716
199618#852

How popular is Kealan in the US?

Rank in 2025
#8,906among boys
Babies in 2025
8about 1 in 210,000 boys
Five-year trend
Too rare to calltoo few babies to tell
Same name in a class
under 1%chance among 15 boys

In 2025, 8 boys in the US were named Kealan, making it the 8,906th most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 8,734th. Its busiest year was 2010, with 18 boys. It first appears in the records in 1989.

Half of all the boys named Kealan in the US since 1880 were born between 2002 and 2015, the years shaded on the chart below.

1989Busiest: 18 in 20102025
Kealan in the US, year by year
YearBoysRank
20258#8,906
20249#8,307
20235#12,232
20225#12,322
20218#8,820
20208#8,734
20199#8,209
201811#7,132
20176#10,770
201612#6,721
20159#8,035
201415#5,729
201312#6,598
201216#5,476
20119#8,072
201018#5,044
200911#7,231
200814#6,065
200716#5,431
200612#6,455
200514#5,572
200411#6,514
200311#6,251
200213#5,388
20015#10,548
200015#4,779
199911#5,650
199810#5,834
199710#5,636
19965#9,008
19950–
19947#6,962
19938#6,221
19926#7,414
19910–
19900–
19897#6,222

Names like Kealan

Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.

Names related to Kealan

More Irish names

Every Irish name

Sources

Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland), Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) and Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.

To cite this page: Nameling, “Kealan: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/kealan, updated 20 October 2026.