Kenneth Boy
How popular is Kenneth?
#294 boy name in 2025
1,148 baby boys were named Kenneth in the US in 2025, making it the 294th most popular boy name.
Kenneth popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #294 for boys (▼ 10 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 1,148 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-44% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #198 in 2015, #243 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1957 (28,064 boys) |
| Highest rank | #13 in 1939 |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.8% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Kenneth counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Kenneth family of names ranked #290 for boys in 2025 (#285 the year before), with 1,160 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kenneth | 1,148 | 99% |
| Keneth | 12 | 1% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Kenneth is most popular
Babies named Kenneth per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- West Virginia: 1.5 per 1,000 (50 boys)
- Mississippi: 1.4 per 1,000 (82 boys)
- Kentucky: 1.4 per 1,000 (137 boys)
- Alabama: 1.3 per 1,000 (147 boys)
- Arkansas: 1.2 per 1,000 (74 boys)
Kenneth by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 362 | #197 |
| 1890s | 1,298 | #87 |
| 1900s | 4,579 | #40 |
| 1910s | 43,248 | #26 |
| 1920s | 99,490 | #17 |
| 1930s | 125,111 | #13 |
| 1940s | 198,553 | #15 |
| 1950s | 262,819 | #14 |
| 1960s | 227,531 | #16 |
| 1970s | 111,489 | #25 |
| 1980s | 89,110 | #41 |
| 1990s | 58,254 | #52 |
| 2000s | 34,090 | #94 |
| 2010s | 20,213 | #160 |
| 2020s | 7,827 | #243 |
Boy names about as popular as Kenneth
Questions
- Is Kenneth a boy or girl name?
- Kenneth is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Kenneth were boys.
- How popular is the name Kenneth?
- 1,148 baby boys were named Kenneth in the US in 2025, making it the 294th most popular boy name.
- When was Kenneth most popular?
- Kenneth peaked in 1957, when 28,064 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #13 in 1939.
- How many people are named Kenneth?
- 1,289,312 babies have been named Kenneth in the US since 1880. We estimate about 794,453 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 62.
- Where is Kenneth most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Kenneth was most common in West Virginia, at 1.5 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.