Kendalyn
Combination of Kendall, denoting "valley of the river Kent", and feminine suffix meaning "beautiful valley".
Name Census estimates that about 1,060 living Americans carry the first name Kendalyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kendalyn today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kendalyn births was 2014 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kendalyn. 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.
Key insights
- • Kendalyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 323,353 Americans
Peak year
2014
61 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,221
Tracked since 1964
Popularity
Kendalyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kendalyn from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 508 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kendalyn 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 Kendalyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kendalyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kendalyn, while Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kendalyn
Kendalyn is a given name of uncertain origin, but it is believed to be a modern invention inspired by the English place name Kendal, likely combined with the popular suffix "-lyn". Kendal is a town in Cumbria, England, and the name is derived from the Old Norse word "kendale", meaning "valley of the river Kent".
The earliest recorded use of the name Kendalyn is relatively recent, with no known historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, the name's roots can be traced back to the Old Norse language and the naming conventions of the Vikings who settled in the area now known as Cumbria.
While there are no famous historical figures named Kendalyn, the name has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries. Notable individuals with the name include Kendalyn Rae Adams (born 1990), an American actress and model, and Kendalyn Rose Phillips (born 1988), an American basketball player.
Other individuals with the name Kendalyn include Kendalyn Pape, an American volleyball player who played for the University of Arkansas in the early 2000s, and Kendalyn Saunders, a Canadian singer-songwriter known for her participation in the reality television show "The Launch" in 2018.
While the exact origins of the name Kendalyn are uncertain, its modern popularity and use as a given name can be attributed to the increasing trend of creating unique and personalized names by combining elements from different sources, such as place names and popular suffixes.
People
Kendalyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kendalyn 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
Kendalyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kendalyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,060 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kendalyn 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 323,353 US residents.
Is Kendalyn a common name?
We classify Kendalyn as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,075 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kendalyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Kendalyn was 2014, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kendalyn is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kendalyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kendalyn in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.