Keota is a town in northeastern Haskell County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 564 at the 2010 census, a 9.1 percent increase from 517 at the 2000 census.The town was first called "KeeOtter", and was later changed to "Keota". The town's name may come from a Choctaw word meaning "the fire gone out", referring to an entire tribe being destroyed by disease. Another account is that Keota was derived from "Jim Keese", a rancher who owned the land where the townsite was located, and "Otter," for Otter Creek, a tributary of the Sans Bois Creek which winds its way through town.