Kenlie
A feminine name of unknown origin, potentially a combination of names.
Name Census estimates that about 579 living Americans carry the first name Kenlie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kenlie today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenlie births was 2010 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenlie. 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.
People living today
579
~ 1 in 591,976 Americans
Peak year
2010
58 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,224
Tracked since 1998
Census
Kenlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 497 people with the first name Kenlie, which placed it at #20,692 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
#20,692
National first-name rank
People counted
497
497 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenlie is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Kenlie 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 Kenlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.7% · 421
- Two or more races5.0% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 21
- Black or African American4.0% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Kenlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenlie from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 349 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
Kenlie 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 Kenlie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kenlies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenlie
The name Kenlie is a relatively modern English name that appears to have emerged in the late 20th century. Its origins are somewhat uncertain, but it is believed to be a combination of the Scottish name Kenzie, derived from the Gaelic personal name Coinneach, and the English name Lillie or Lily, derived from the flower name.
Kenzie itself is a diminutive form of the Gaelic name Coinneach, which means "handsome" or "bright." The name Coinneach has a long history in Scottish culture, with records dating back to the 12th century. It was particularly popular among the Clan Mackenzie, one of the most powerful clans in the Scottish Highlands.
The name Lillie or Lily, on the other hand, has its roots in the Latin name Lilium, which refers to the beautiful and fragrant lily flower. The name has been used in various cultures and languages throughout history, often symbolizing purity, innocence, and renewal.
While there are no definitive historical records or references to the name Kenlie itself in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that the name was created by combining the names Kenzie and Lillie or Lily in more recent times, possibly as early as the late 19th or early 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kenlie can be found in the United States. Kenlie Saunders (1910-1991) was an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox in the 1930s. Another notable person with the name Kenlie was Kenlie Nutter (1937-2021), an American actress and model who appeared in several television shows and films in the 1960s and 1970s.
Other notable individuals with the name Kenlie include Kenlie Haynes (born 1982), an American singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the early 2000s, and Kenlie Middleton (born 1989), an Australian professional basketball player who has represented her country in international competitions.
Additionally, Kenlie Dickson (born 1987) is an American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films, and Kenlie Wyatt (born 1995) is an American singer and songwriter known for her participation in the reality television singing competition The Voice.
People
Kenlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenlie 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
Kenlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 579 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenlie 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 591,976 US residents.
Is Kenlie a common name?
We classify Kenlie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 585 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenlie was 2010, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenlie is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kenlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 497 people with the name Kenlie, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,692 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 Kenlie 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 Kenlie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenlie leans strongly female. 495 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Kenlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenlie is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Kenlie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kenlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (421 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 Kenlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenlie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kenlie 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.
Is Kenlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenlie 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 Kenlie 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 have Kenlie as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.