Kenneth
A masculine name of Celtic origin meaning "born of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 836,956 living Americans carry the first name Kenneth. It sits at #284 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kenneth today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenneth births was 1957 (28,141 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenneth. 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 Kenneth with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kenneth is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 5,338 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Kenneth have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
837K
~ 1 in 410 Americans
Peak year
1957
28,141 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#284
Tracked since 1880
Census
Kenneth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 755,676 people with the first name Kenneth, which placed it at #43 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
#43
National first-name rank
People counted
756K
755,676 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
250.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenneth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenneth is White at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.3%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Kenneth 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 Kenneth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.5% · 585,511
- Black or African American13.3% · 100,649
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 28,208
- Two or more races2.7% · 20,280
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 15,905
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 5,123
Gender
Gender distribution for Kenneth
Out of the 1,288,147 babies given the name Kenneth since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Kenneth as a male name
- Ranked #284 in 2024
- 1,186 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (28,060 births)
Kenneth as a female name
- Ranked #13,128 in 2019
- 7 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1964 (127 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenneth appears almost entirely male. Of the 755,679 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Kenneth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenneth from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 263,538 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kenneth 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 Kenneth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 363 | 0 | 363 |
| 1890s | 1,298 | 0 | 1,298 |
| 1900s | 4,579 | 12 | 4,591 |
| 1910s | 43,248 | 203 | 43,451 |
| 1920s | 99,490 | 578 | 100,068 |
| 1930s | 125,109 | 522 | 125,631 |
| 1940s | 198,551 | 522 | 199,073 |
| 1950s | 262,822 | 716 | 263,538 |
| 1960s | 227,514 | 1,025 | 228,539 |
| 1970s | 111,497 | 758 | 112,255 |
| 1980s | 89,118 | 731 | 89,849 |
| 1990s | 58,256 | 189 | 58,445 |
| 2000s | 34,090 | 65 | 34,155 |
| 2010s | 20,205 | 17 | 20,222 |
| 2020s | 6,669 | 0 | 6,669 |
Geography
Where Kenneths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Kenneth, while Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25,053 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenneth
The name Kenneth has its origins in the Gaelic language, which was spoken by the Celts in regions of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. It is derived from the Gaelic words "ced" meaning "born of fire" and "nath" meaning "something burnt". Together, the name Kenneth is believed to have originally meant "born of fire" or "fire-born".
The earliest recorded use of the name Kenneth dates back to the 6th century, where it was found in ancient Scottish and Irish texts. It is thought that the name was initially associated with royalty or nobility in these regions, as several early Scottish kings bore the name.
One of the most notable historical figures named Kenneth was Kenneth I, who ruled as the King of Scots from 844 to 858 AD. He is credited with bringing together the Picts and Scots, laying the foundation for the Kingdom of Scotland.
Another famous bearer of the name was Kenneth III, who reigned as the King of Scots from 997 to 1005 AD. He was known for his efforts to promote Christianity and establish the Church's influence in Scotland.
In the 12th century, Kenneth Baliol, a Scottish nobleman, played a significant role in the Scottish Wars of Independence against England. He was a prominent supporter of King William the Lion.
In the 16th century, Kenneth Mackenzie, a Scottish nobleman and chief of the Clan Mackenzie, was known for his involvement in the Highland clan wars and his efforts to expand the Mackenzie clan's territory.
Saint Kenneth, also known as Kenneth of Aghaboe, was an Irish monk and abbot who lived in the 6th century. He is revered as the patron saint of the Leinster region in Ireland and is associated with several monasteries and churches.
Throughout history, the name Kenneth has been popular across various cultures and societies, particularly in Scotland, Ireland, England, and parts of North America. Its association with nobility and historical figures has contributed to its enduring popularity over the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kenneth
People
Kenneth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenneth 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
Kenneth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenneth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 836,956 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenneth 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 410 US residents.
Is Kenneth a common name?
We classify Kenneth as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,288,147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenneth most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenneth was 1957, when 28,141 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenneth 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 Kenneth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 755,676 people with the name Kenneth, or 250.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43 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 Kenneth 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 Kenneth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenneth appears almost entirely male. Of the 755,679 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Kenneth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenneth is White at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.3%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Kenneth most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kenneth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.5% (585,511 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 Kenneth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenneth a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Kenneth 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 Kenneth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenneth 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 Kenneth 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 Kenneth?
You can see how many people have the name Kenneth on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.