Kenta
A Japanese masculine name meaning "healthy and big".
Name Census estimates that about 689 living Americans carry the first name Kenta. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Kenta today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenta births was 1977 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenta. 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
689
~ 1 in 497,466 Americans
Peak year
1977
48 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2022 SSA rank
#7,513
Tracked since 1973
Census
Kenta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 718 people with the first name Kenta, which placed it at #15,879 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
#15,879
National first-name rank
People counted
718
718 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
53.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenta is Asian/Pacific Islander at 53.6%. The next largest groups are Black (26.2%) and Two or More Races (13.1%). 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 Kenta 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 Kenta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander53.6% · 385
- Black or African American26.2% · 188
- Two or more races13.1% · 94
- White5.0% · 36
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Kenta
Out of the 709 babies given the name Kenta since 1880, 99.3% 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.
Kenta as a male name
- Ranked #7,513 in 2022
- 11 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1977 (48 births)
Kenta as a female name
- Ranked #10,505 in 1978
- 5 female births in 1978
- Peak: 1978 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenta leans strongly male. 671 people counted with this name were male (93.1%), compared with 50 female bearers (6.9%).
Popularity
Kenta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenta from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 216 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kenta 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 Kenta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kentas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Louisiana, New York recorded the most babies named Kenta, while New York, Louisiana, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenta
The name Kenta is of Japanese origin, derived from the words "ken" meaning "healthy" and "ta" meaning "thick" or "big." The name dates back to the early Edo period in Japan, which spanned from the early 17th century to the mid-19th century. It was initially a masculine name given to boys, often with the intention of wishing for a strong and robust child.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kenta can be found in the Edo period historical records, where a samurai warrior named Kenta Nakamura was mentioned for his bravery in battle during the early 18th century. The name later spread across various regions of Japan, becoming increasingly popular among the common people.
In ancient Japanese literature, the name Kenta is mentioned in the Kojiki, one of the oldest written records in Japan dating back to the early 8th century. However, the context in which the name appears is unclear, and it is believed to have been used as a descriptive term rather than a personal name at the time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kenta. One of the most famous was Kenta Masuyama (1873-1949), a renowned Japanese painter and printmaker who was a pioneer of the modernist movement in Japanese art. His works, which often depicted traditional Japanese landscapes and scenes, are highly regarded and can be found in various art museums around the world.
Another notable figure was Kenta Kodama (1898-1971), a Japanese politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs during the 1950s. He played a crucial role in restoring Japan's international relations after World War II and was instrumental in the country's post-war reconstruction efforts.
In the realm of sports, Kenta Maeda (born 1988) is a professional baseball pitcher who has played for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball. He has represented Japan in several international competitions, including the World Baseball Classic.
Kenta Nishimura (born 1985) is a Japanese actor and singer who gained popularity for his roles in various television dramas and films. He has also released several successful music albums and has a dedicated fan base in Japan.
Finally, Kenta Kumano (born 1989) is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight division of various prominent organizations, including the UFC. He is known for his aggressive fighting style and has achieved notable victories throughout his professional career.
People
Kenta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenta 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
Kenta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 689 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenta 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 497,466 US residents.
Is Kenta a common name?
We classify Kenta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 709 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenta most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenta was 1977, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenta is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kenta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 718 people with the name Kenta, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,879 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 Kenta 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 Kenta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenta leans strongly male. 671 people counted with this name were male (93.1%), compared with 50 female bearers (6.9%). 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 Kenta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenta is Asian/Pacific Islander at 53.6%. The next largest groups are Black (26.2%) and Two or More Races (13.1%). 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 Kenta most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kenta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.6% (385 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 Kenta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenta a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Kenta 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 Kenta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenta 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 Kenta 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 are called Kenta?
You can see how many Americans are named Kenta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.