Kennis
A name of Dutch origin meaning "knowledge" or "insight".
Name Census estimates that about 519 living Americans carry the first name Kennis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Kennis today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kennis births was 1961 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kennis. 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
519
~ 1 in 660,413 Americans
Peak year
1961
16 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,652
Tracked since 1917
Census
Kennis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 536 people with the first name Kennis, which placed it at #19,637 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
#19,637
National first-name rank
People counted
536
536 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kennis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kennis is Black at 50.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.8%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Kennis 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 Kennis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.4% · 270
- White32.8% · 176
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 36
- Two or more races4.9% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Kennis
Kennis leans heavily male at 88.1% of total registrations, but 76 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kennis as a male name
- Ranked #11,652 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1961 (16 births)
Kennis as a female name
- Ranked #14,700 in 2019
- 6 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2005 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kennis on both sides of the split. Of the 530 people counted with this name, 392 were male (74.0%) and 138 were female (26.0%).
Popularity
Kennis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kennis from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 95 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
Kennis 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 Kennis 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 Kennis
The given name Kennis is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon era. It is thought to be derived from the Old English word "cennan," which means "to bring forth" or "to give birth." The name Kennis was likely used as a reference to someone who had a significant role in the birthing process, such as a midwife or a person who helped with childbirth.
During the medieval period, the name Kennis appeared in various historical records and documents, particularly in England and parts of northern Europe where Old English was spoken. One notable early reference is found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation conducted in England in 1086 under the reign of King William the Conqueror. The name Kennis is listed as a personal name in this influential record.
In the 12th century, a monk named Kennis of Winchcombe is recorded as having lived in the Benedictine abbey of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, England. He is believed to have been a scribe and copyist, contributing to the preservation of historical manuscripts during that period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kennis was Kennis of Faversham, an English philosopher and logician who lived in the late 13th century. He is known for his work on the theory of consequences and his contributions to the development of medieval logic.
During the Renaissance period, Kennis Petruccio was an Italian painter from the school of Ferrara, active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He is best known for his religious works and frescoes adorning churches in northern Italy.
In the 17th century, Kennis van der Meer was a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still-life paintings depicting floral arrangements and vanitas themes. He was a member of the Leiden Guild of St. Luke and worked in the city of Leiden during the 1600s.
While the name Kennis has its roots in Old English and was more commonly used in the past, it has maintained a presence throughout history, with individuals bearing this name making notable contributions across various fields.
People
Kennis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kennis 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
Kennis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kennis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 519 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kennis 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 660,413 US residents.
Is Kennis a common name?
We classify Kennis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 636 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kennis most popular?
The single biggest year for Kennis was 1961, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kennis is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kennis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 536 people with the name Kennis, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,637 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 Kennis 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 Kennis?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kennis on both sides of the split. Of the 530 people counted with this name, 392 were male (74.0%) and 138 were female (26.0%). 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 Kennis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kennis is Black at 50.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.8%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Kennis most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kennis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.4% (270 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 Kennis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kennis a male name?
Yes, 88.1% of people registered as Kennis 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 Kennis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kennis 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 Kennis 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 Kennis?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.