Kennette
A feminine name derived from Kenneth, meaning "born of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the first name Kennette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kennette today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kennette births was 1969 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kennette. 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
139
~ 1 in 2,465,859 Americans
Peak year
1969
13 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1990 SSA rank
#14,068
Tracked since 1953
Census
Kennette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 241 people with the first name Kennette, which placed it at #34,040 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
#34,040
National first-name rank
People counted
241
241 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kennette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kennette is White at 40.7%. The next largest groups are Black (36.5%) and Hispanic (12.9%). 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 Kennette 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 Kennette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.7% · 98
- Black or African American36.5% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 31
- Two or more races5.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 10
Popularity
Kennette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kennette from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 68 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
Kennette 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 Kennette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kennette
The name Kennette is a relatively uncommon given name with its origins tracing back to the Gaelic language. It is believed to have derived from the medieval Irish name Cennetig, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Cennetan. The root of this name can be traced back to the Old Irish word "cenn," meaning "chief" or "leader."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kennette dates back to the 12th century, where it was mentioned in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle of medieval Irish history. In this text, Kennette is cited as the name of a minor noble from the province of Ulster.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Kennette remained predominantly confined to Ireland and Scotland, with sporadic instances of its usage found in historical records and family genealogies. One notable bearer of the name was Kennette MacLachlan, a 14th-century Scottish noblewoman and the wife of the chief of the Clan MacLachlan.
As the centuries progressed, the name Kennette gradually spread beyond its traditional Celtic confines, with some instances of its usage appearing in various parts of Europe. In the 16th century, a Kennette DuBois was listed as a member of a prominent French family from the Normandy region.
In the 19th century, the name gained a modest following in North America, particularly among families of Irish and Scottish descent. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name in the United States was Kennette O'Malley, an Irish immigrant who settled in Boston in the 1840s.
Other notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Kennette include:
1. Kennette Burrowes (1890-1972), a British suffragette and activist for women's rights.
2. Kennette Devlin (1917-2008), an American author and playwright, best known for her works exploring themes of Irish-American identity.
3. Kennette Ramírez (1928-2005), a Nicaraguan politician and diplomat who served as her country's ambassador to the United Nations.
4. Kennette Beaumont (1938-2016), a Canadian artist and sculptor, renowned for her abstract and minimalist works.
5. Kennette Sheppard (1962-present), a former professional basketball player from the United States who played in the WNBA.
While relatively uncommon, the name Kennette has persisted throughout the centuries, maintaining a modest presence in various parts of the world, particularly among those with Irish, Scottish, or broader Celtic cultural ties.
People
Kennette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kennette 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
Kennette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kennette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kennette 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 2,465,859 US residents.
Is Kennette a common name?
We classify Kennette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 163 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kennette most popular?
The single biggest year for Kennette was 1969, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kennette is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kennette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 241 people with the name Kennette, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,040 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 Kennette 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 Kennette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kennette leans strongly female. 210 people counted with this name were female (84.0%), compared with 40 male bearers (16.0%). 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 Kennette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kennette is White at 40.7%. The next largest groups are Black (36.5%) and Hispanic (12.9%). 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 Kennette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kennette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.7% (98 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 Kennette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kennette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kennette 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 Kennette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kennette 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 Kennette 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 Americans are named Kennette?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.