Keanu is a Hawaiian name that means "cool breeze", from ke, the, and anu, cool. The actor Keanu Reeves, who was given the name after a Hawaiian ancestor, made it known far beyond the islands. In the United States Keanu was number 771 in 2000, dropped out of the top 1000 for several years and has been back since 2016; it peaked at 515 in 2020 and ranks 649 in 2025.