Kenshin
A masculine Japanese name referring to a humble and diligent heart.
Name Census estimates that about 350 living Americans carry the first name Kenshin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kenshin today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenshin births was 2003 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenshin. 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 Kenshin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
350
~ 1 in 979,298 Americans
Peak year
2003
23 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,264
Tracked since 2001
Census
Kenshin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 315 people with the first name Kenshin, which placed it at #28,488 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
#28,488
National first-name rank
People counted
315
315 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
54.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenshin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenshin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (18.4%) and White (13.0%). 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 Kenshin 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 Kenshin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander54.6% · 172
- Two or more races18.4% · 58
- White13.0% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino10.8% · 34
- Black or African American1.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 4
Popularity
Kenshin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenshin from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 159 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kenshin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kenshin 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 Kenshin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kenshins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenshin
The name Kenshin is of Japanese origin, derived from the combination of two distinct kanji characters, "ken" meaning "sword" and "shin" meaning "truth" or "reality." This name can be traced back to the Muromachi period (1336-1573) in Japan, a time of significant cultural and artistic development.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Kenshin was Uesugi Kenshin, a prominent daimyo (feudal lord) who lived from 1530 to 1578. He was renowned for his military prowess and strategic brilliance, playing a pivotal role in the Sengoku period's complex power struggles among various warlords.
Another notable figure was Himura Kenshin, the fictional protagonist of the acclaimed manga and anime series "Rurouni Kenshin" by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Set in the early Meiji period (1868-1912), the story follows Kenshin's journey as a former assassin seeking atonement for his violent past.
In the realm of literature, Kenshin Yokomitsu (1898-1942) was a renowned Japanese novelist and essayist renowned for his avant-garde writing style and contributions to the Shinkankakuha (New Sensationist) literary movement.
The name Kenshin has also been associated with spiritual leaders and philosophers. Kenshin Nawa (1537-1610) was a prominent Zen Buddhist monk and scholar during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, renowned for his calligraphy and teachings on the principles of Zen Buddhism.
Lastly, Kenshin Sakamoto (1921-2005) was a respected Japanese philosopher and educator who explored the interplay between Eastern and Western philosophical traditions, contributing to the understanding of comparative philosophy and intercultural dialogue.
While the name Kenshin is not as common today as it was in historical periods, its rich cultural heritage and symbolic meaning continue to resonate, making it a significant part of Japan's onomastic tradition.
People
Kenshin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenshin 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
Kenshin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenshin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 350 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenshin 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 979,298 US residents.
Is Kenshin a common name?
We classify Kenshin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 353 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenshin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenshin was 2003, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenshin 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 Kenshin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 315 people with the name Kenshin, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,488 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 Kenshin 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 Kenshin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenshin appears almost entirely male. Of the 308 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kenshin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenshin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (18.4%) and White (13.0%). 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 Kenshin most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kenshin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.6% (172 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 Kenshin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenshin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kenshin 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 Kenshin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenshin 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 Kenshin 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 Kenshin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.