Given name & surname
Kees
Kees is used as a given name and a surname. Kees is connected with Cornelis.
Meaning & origin
How it developed
In Dutch use, Kees is used as an affectionate form of Cornelis.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1985. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Kees through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 141
- 141 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2003
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 277 as a first name in 2020; 1,919 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Kees’s family of names
In Dutch usage, Kees is a diminutive of Cornelis. Kees has an alternative spelling in Cees. Kees is an affectionate form of Cornelis.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 9
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Corneliusequivalent
- Cornelioequivalent
- Korneliusequivalent
- Kornelequivalent
- Kornélequivalent
- Korstiaanequivalent
- Kornelisequivalent
- Korsequivalent
Show 1 moreShow fewer
People named Kees
- Kees van DongenDutch painter (1877-1968)
- Kees RijversDutch footballer and manager (1926-2024)
- Kees KistDutch footballerborn 1952
- Kees Schouhamer ImminkDutch electrical engineer, physicist, inventor and university teacher (born 1946)
- Kees VerkerkDutch speed skaterborn 1942
- Kees van IersselDutch footballerborn 1945
- Kees de JagerDutch astronomer, university professor, pioneer of space science, science communicator and opponent of pseudoscience (1921–2021)
- Kees MijndersDutch footballer (1912-2002)
- Kees BroekmanDutch speed skater and speed skating coach (1927-1992)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Kees, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.