Kenneth
Kenneth is ranked 284th among boys in 2024 (1,186 births). Its best rank was 13th, in 1939.
- Rank in 2024
- #284down 22 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 1,1860.07% of boys
- Peak year
- 195728,060 births
- Best rank
- #13in 1939
- Since 1880
- 1,288,147people given the name
The story in the numbers
1,282,809 boys have been named Kenneth in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1957, with 28,060 births — 1.3% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 191 → 284).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1956, and the 1950s alone account for 20%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 104 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 5,338 girls have also been given it, 0.41% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Kenneth | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 363 | |
| 1890s | 1,298 | |
| 1900s | 4,579 | |
| 1910s | 43,248 | |
| 1920s | 99,490 | |
| 1930s | 125,109 | |
| 1940s | 198,551 | |
| 1950s | 262,822 | |
| 1960s | 227,514 | |
| 1970s | 111,497 | |
| 1980s | 89,118 | |
| 1990s | 58,256 | |
| 2000s | 34,090 | |
| 2010s | 20,205 | |
| 2020s | 6,669 |
In 1957, its biggest year
Kenneth was the 14th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1957 were Michael, James, David, Robert and John. See all of 1957.
Names that rose and fell with Kenneth
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Jamepeak 1957
- Curtisspeak 1959
- Gerardpeak 1956
- Darrelpeak 1960
- Dalepeak 1958
- Kennithpeak 1956
- Richardpeak 1946
- Waynepeak 1947
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.