Kenai
Native American name meaning "flat meadow" or "high place".
Name Census estimates that about 2,065 living Americans carry the first name Kenai. It is a predominantly male name (96.7% of registrations). The average person named Kenai today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenai births was 2024 (332 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenai. 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 Kenai with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kenai is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 68 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Kenai is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 165,983 Americans
Peak year
2024
332 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#772
Tracked since 1992
Census
Kenai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 933 people with the first name Kenai, which placed it at #13,076 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
#13,076
National first-name rank
People counted
933
933 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
30.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenai is Hispanic at 30.3%. The next largest groups are White (23.8%) and Black (19.6%). 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 Kenai 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 Kenai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino30.3% · 283
- White23.8% · 222
- Black or African American19.6% · 183
- Two or more races13.4% · 125
- American Indian and Alaska Native9.8% · 91
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 29
Gender
Gender distribution for Kenai
Kenai leans heavily male at 96.7% of total registrations, but 68 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kenai as a male name
- Ranked #772 in 2024
- 327 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (327 births)
Kenai as a female name
- Ranked #16,432 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenai leans strongly male. 850 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 83 female bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Kenai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenai from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 1,074 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kenai 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 Kenai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kenais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Kenai, while South Dakota, South Carolina, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenai
The name Kenai is believed to have its origins in the Athabaskan language, spoken by various indigenous tribes of Alaska and western Canada. The name is derived from the word "Kenai," which refers to a region and peninsula in southern Alaska, as well as the Kenai River that flows through it.
This area was inhabited by the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, a subgroup of the Alutiiq people, who were the original inhabitants of the Kenai Peninsula. The name itself is thought to have been derived from the Athabaskan word "kdnay'in," which means "flat, meadow-like area" or "open areas with lakes and streams."
The earliest recorded use of the name Kenai can be traced back to the late 18th century, when Russian explorers and fur traders first encountered the Kenaitze people in the region. The name was recorded in various accounts and journals kept by these early explorers, who documented their interactions with the local tribes.
While the name Kenai does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been used throughout history by various individuals, some of whom have achieved notable recognition.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kenai was Kenai Udall (1859-1925), a prominent leader of the Yavapai people in Arizona. He was known for his efforts in advocating for the rights and preservation of his tribe's culture and traditions.
Another notable figure was Kenai Fjeldsted (1902-1983), a Norwegian-American artist and sculptor who was renowned for his work in creating public monuments and memorials throughout the United States.
In the world of sports, Kenai Watson (born 1983) is a former Canadian football player who played in the Canadian Football League for several teams, including the Edmonton Eskimos and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Kenai Muir (born 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who has represented his country at the international level, playing for the New Zealand Sevens team.
Additionally, Kenai Loebel (born 1995) is a German-American figure skater who has competed in various international competitions, including the World Junior Championships.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the name Kenai, demonstrating its enduring presence across different cultures and time periods.
People
Kenai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenai 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
Kenai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,065 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenai 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 165,983 US residents.
Is Kenai a common name?
We classify Kenai as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,081 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenai most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenai was 2024, when 332 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenai is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kenai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 933 people with the name Kenai, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,076 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 Kenai 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 Kenai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenai leans strongly male. 850 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 83 female bearers (8.9%). 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 Kenai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenai is Hispanic at 30.3%. The next largest groups are White (23.8%) and Black (19.6%). 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 Kenai most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Kenai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 30.3% (283 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 Kenai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenai a male name?
Yes, 96.7% of people registered as Kenai 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 Kenai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenai 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 Kenai 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 common is the name Kenai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.