Keeley

Where Keeley comes from

Reduced Anglicized from Irish Ó Caollaidhe (“descendant of Caollaidhe”), a personal name based on the adjective caol (“slender, graceful”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Keeley
  • From a surname
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1957
    First appearance
    #5,377 among girls, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1976
    Keeley Hawes born
    British actress
  3. 1986
    Keeley Hazell born
    English model
  4. 1997
    Peak, #899
    224 babies named Keeley — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2015
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,937.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname, of recent usage.
Namesakes
  • Keeley Hawes · British actress, born 1976
  • Keeley Hazell · English model, born 1986
  • Keeley Dowling · American soccer player, born 1983
  • Keeley Davis · American musician, born 1976
  • Keeley Todd · New Zealand cricketer, born 1982

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.