Ken
A masculine Japanese name meaning "healthy" or "vigorous".
Name Census estimates that about 25,303 living Americans carry the first name Ken. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ken today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ken births was 1960 (1,776 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ken. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ken with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Ken have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,546 Americans
Peak year
1960
1,776 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,295
Tracked since 1900
Census
Ken in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 69,580 people with the first name Ken, which placed it at #733 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#733
National first-name rank
People counted
70K
69,580 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
23.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ken
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ken is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.3%) and Black (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ken described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ken at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.3% · 51,727
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.3% · 8,590
- Black or African American6.5% · 4,490
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 2,196
- Two or more races3.1% · 2,141
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 436
Gender
Gender distribution for Ken
Out of the 33,004 babies given the name Ken since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ken as a male name
- Ranked #3,295 in 2024
- 36 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (1,776 births)
Ken as a female name
- Ranked #14,063 in 1990
- 5 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1961 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ken appears almost entirely male. Of the 69,582 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Ken: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ken from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 11,912 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ken by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ken during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Illinois, Michigan recorded the most babies named Ken, while Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 579 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ken
The name Ken is a masculine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English word "cene" or "cyne," meaning "bold" or "brave." It is also a shortened form of the name Kenneth, which has its roots in the Gaelic name "Cainneach," meaning "handsome" or "born of fire."
In the Middle Ages, the name Kenneth was popular among Scottish and Irish families, particularly in the Highlands of Scotland. It was often associated with royalty and nobility, as it was borne by several Scottish kings and clan chiefs. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Kenneth I, also known as Cináed mac Ailpín, who reigned as the King of Scots from 843 to 858 CE.
During the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, the name Kenneth became more widespread across Britain, and its shortened form, Ken, gained popularity as a distinct name. The earliest known record of the name Ken dates back to the 13th century, when it appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and properties commissioned by William the Conqueror.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ken. One of the most famous was Ken Anrok, a legendary Japanese samurai warrior who lived in the 12th century. He is known for his exploits during the Genpei War and is celebrated in the epic tale "The Tale of the Heike."
In the realm of literature, Ken Kesey (1935-2001) was an influential American author best known for his novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which explored themes of individuality and the struggle against conformity. His work had a significant impact on the counterculture movement of the 1960s.
Another prominent figure was Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995), a Nigerian writer, environmental activist, and campaigner for the rights of the Ogoni people. He was executed by the Nigerian government for his activism, sparking international outrage and condemnation.
In the world of sports, Ken Dryden (born 1947) was a Canadian ice hockey goaltender who played for the Montreal Canadiens and is widely regarded as one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL). He won six Stanley Cup championships and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.
Finally, Ken Watanabe (born 1959) is a renowned Japanese actor known for his roles in films such as "The Last Samurai," "Inception," and "Godzilla." He has received numerous accolades for his performances, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lord Katsumoto in "The Last Samurai."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ken
People
Ken + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ken as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ken: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ken?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25,303 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ken going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 13,546 US residents.
Is Ken a common name?
We classify Ken as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,004 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ken most popular?
The single biggest year for Ken was 1960, when 1,776 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ken is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ken in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 69,580 people with the name Ken, or 23.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #733 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ken in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ken?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ken appears almost entirely male. Of the 69,582 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ken?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ken is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.3%) and Black (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ken most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ken in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (51,727 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ken in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ken a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Ken in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ken still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ken in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ken can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Ken?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.