Kenny
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "handsome, attractive".
Name Census estimates that about 43,989 living Americans carry the first name Kenny. It is a predominantly male name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Kenny today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenny births was 1960 (1,952 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenny. 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 Kenny with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kenny is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 542 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
44K
~ 1 in 7,792 Americans
Peak year
1960
1,952 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,354
Tracked since 1908
Census
Kenny in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 51,663 people with the first name Kenny, which placed it at #875 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
#875
National first-name rank
People counted
52K
51,663 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
17.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenny
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenny is White at 47.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.4%). 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 Kenny 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 Kenny at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.9% · 24,767
- Hispanic or Latino16.8% · 8,698
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.4% · 8,473
- Black or African American15.1% · 7,794
- Two or more races2.7% · 1,385
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 546
Gender
Gender distribution for Kenny
Kenny leans heavily male at 99.0% of total registrations, but 542 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kenny as a male name
- Ranked #1,354 in 2024
- 140 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (1,937 births)
Kenny as a female name
- Ranked #7,394 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenny leans strongly male. 50,635 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 1,031 female bearers (2.0%).
Popularity
Kenny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenny from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 12,466 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
Kenny 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 Kenny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kennys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Kenny, while Maine, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 988 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenny
The name Kenny is believed to have originated as a diminutive form of the Irish name Cainneach, which is derived from the Gaelic word "cain" meaning "handsome" or "bright." The name Cainneach is believed to date back to the 6th century and is associated with Saint Cainnech, one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
The diminutive form Kenny emerged in the Middle Ages and was commonly used in Ireland and Scotland. It was particularly popular among families with Scottish or Irish heritage, and it eventually spread to other parts of the English-speaking world.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kenny can be found in the Irish Annals of the Four Masters, which mention a person named "Cennedig" in the 9th century. Another early reference is found in the Book of Leinster, a 12th-century medieval Irish manuscript, which mentions a person named "Cennetig."
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Kenny. One of the earliest was Kenny MacAiden (c. 1200 - c. 1270), a Scottish nobleman and military leader who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English. Another notable figure was Kenny O'Daly (c. 1318 - c. 1380), an Irish poet and bard who wrote extensively in the Gaelic language.
In more recent times, the name has been borne by several famous individuals, including Kenny Everett (1944 - 1995), a British comedian and radio personality known for his innovative and irreverent humor. There was also Kenny Rogers (1938 - 2020), an American singer and actor famous for his country music hits and his role in the film "The Gambler."
Other notable individuals with the name Kenny include Kenny Dalglish (born 1951), a Scottish football player and manager who led Liverpool FC to numerous victories in the 1970s and 1980s, and Kenny Loggins (born 1948), an American singer-songwriter known for hits like "Footloose" and "Danger Zone."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kenny
People
Kenny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenny 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
Kenny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 43,989 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenny 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 7,792 US residents.
Is Kenny a common name?
We classify Kenny as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 52,319 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenny most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenny was 1960, when 1,952 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenny is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kenny in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 51,663 people with the name Kenny, or 17.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #875 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 Kenny 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 Kenny?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenny leans strongly male. 50,635 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 1,031 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Kenny?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenny is White at 47.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.4%). 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 Kenny most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kenny in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.9% (24,767 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 Kenny in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenny a male name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Kenny 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 Kenny still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenny 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 Kenny 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 the name Kenny?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Kenny, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.