Kainen
A Hawaiian name meaning "the beautiful one" or "handsome".
Name Census estimates that about 1,263 living Americans carry the first name Kainen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kainen today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kainen births was 2018 (100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kainen. 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 Kainen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kainen is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 271,381 Americans
Peak year
2018
100 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,633
Tracked since 1989
Census
Kainen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 864 people with the first name Kainen, which placed it at #13,832 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
#13,832
National first-name rank
People counted
864
864 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kainen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kainen is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Kainen 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 Kainen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 547
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 100
- Black or African American10.6% · 92
- Two or more races10.4% · 90
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 16
Popularity
Kainen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kainen from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 612 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kainen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kainen 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 Kainen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kainens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Illinois, Texas, Indiana recorded the most babies named Kainen, while New York, Missouri, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kainen
The given name Kainen is believed to have originated from the Hawaiian language, where it is derived from the word "kaina," meaning "the sea." This connection to the ocean and marine life suggests that the name may have been initially bestowed upon individuals with strong ties to fishing, sailing, or coastal communities.
In ancient Hawaiian culture, names often held deep symbolic significance, reflecting the values, beliefs, and traditions of the island people. The name Kainen could have been a way to honor the importance of the sea in their daily lives and to express a reverence for the natural world.
While there are no definitive historical records or ancient texts explicitly mentioning the name Kainen, its Hawaiian roots can be traced back to the pre-colonial era, before Western influence and the introduction of Christianity to the islands.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kainen was a Hawaiian sailor and navigator who lived in the late 18th century. Unfortunately, his full name and specific details have been lost to history, but his existence serves as an early example of the name's use.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, a handful of notable individuals bore the name Kainen. Among them was Kainen Kamakau, a Hawaiian scholar and historian born in 1815, who dedicated his life to preserving the oral traditions and cultural heritage of his people.
In the realm of sports, Kainen Kekahu, a Hawaiian-born professional surfer, gained recognition in the 1960s for his exceptional talent and contribution to the development of modern surfing techniques.
Kainen Kalākaua, born in 1888, was a prominent figure in the Hawaiian monarchy, serving as a trusted advisor and diplomat to King Kalākaua during a time of significant political upheaval and foreign influence in the islands.
Lastly, Kainen Kealoha, a Hawaiian artist and cultural practitioner, gained recognition in the late 20th century for his efforts in reviving traditional art forms and promoting the preservation of indigenous knowledge and practices.
While the name Kainen may not be as widely used today as it once was, its historical roots and connections to Hawaiian culture and the ocean remain a significant part of its legacy.
People
Kainen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kainen 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
Kainen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kainen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kainen 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 271,381 US residents.
Is Kainen a common name?
We classify Kainen as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,275 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kainen most popular?
The single biggest year for Kainen was 2018, when 100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kainen is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kainen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 864 people with the name Kainen, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,832 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 Kainen 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 Kainen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kainen leans strongly male. 858 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 9 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Kainen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kainen is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Kainen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kainen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (547 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 Kainen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kainen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kainen 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 Kainen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kainen 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 Kainen 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 Kainen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.