Keoshia

Meaning & origin

Keoshia is a modern American name that first entered the U.S. Social Security Administration's records in 1983. It reached its highest level of usage in 1994, during the peak of the "-isha" naming trend, yet it has never been common enough to rank among the top 1,000 names. The trajectory of Keoshia has been stable since its introduction, with a small but consistent number of births each year. The name did not appear in any top state lists, reflecting its rare and scattered use. Keoshia's creation during the 1990s places it within a larger pattern of inventive, phonetically appealing names that were popular among African American families, drawing on the fashionable Ke- prefix and the melodic -ia ending.

Keoshia appears in U.S. birth records starting in 1983, during a period when similar-sounding names like Keisha, Tanisha, and Lakeisha were popular. It is a creative respelling or variation of Keisha, itself a coinage from the 1960s that may have been influenced by the name Keziah or simply fashioned from the popular prefix Ke- and the -isha suffix. Keoshia has no known derivation from an older language or culture.