Find out how popular the last name Kentish is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Kentish.

Kentish, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Kentish surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kentish in America

Kentish is the 90113th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kentish surname appeared 205 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Kentish.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kentish to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Kentish

The surname Kentish originated in England, deriving from the Old English word "Kentingas," meaning "the people of Kent." Kent, a county in the southeast of England, was one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and played a significant role in English history.

Kentish is a locational surname, indicating that the earliest bearers of this name hailed from Kent. The name likely emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period, between the 5th and 11th centuries, when surnames were adopted to distinguish individuals from different locations.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Kentish surname can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landowners and tenants commissioned by William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already established by the late 11th century.

In the 13th century, the name appeared in various records, such as the Pipe Rolls of 1230, which listed a Hugo Kenteis. The spelling of the name varied, with forms like Kenteys, Kentish, and Kenteys appearing in medieval documents.

Notable individuals with the surname Kentish include:

1. Thomas Kentish (c. 1517-1591), an English Protestant reformer and Bishop of Winchester.
2. John Kentish (c. 1518-1574), an English clergyman and Protestant martyr, who was burned at the stake during the Marian Persecutions.
3. William Kentish (1560-1639), an English merchant and landowner who served as Sheriff of Kent in 1629.
4. John Kentish (1768-1853), a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars and was made a Knight of the Bath in 1815.
5. Thomas Kentish (1806-1876), an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club in the early days of the sport.

The name Kentish has also been associated with various place names in Kent, such as Kentish Town, a district in north London, and Kentish Ragstone, a type of building stone quarried in the county.

While the Kentish surname originated in England, it has since spread to other parts of the world due to migration and exploration, with bearers of the name found in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kentish

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Kentish.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Kentish was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Kentish has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Kentish was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Kentish, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!