Kendalynn
Feminine variation of an Old English name meaning "valley of the kinsmen".
Name Census estimates that about 419 living Americans carry the first name Kendalynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kendalynn today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kendalynn births was 2018 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kendalynn. 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
419
~ 1 in 818,029 Americans
Peak year
2018
38 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,222
Tracked since 1995
Census
Kendalynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 296 people with the first name Kendalynn, which placed it at #29,744 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
#29,744
National first-name rank
People counted
296
296 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kendalynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kendalynn is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.2%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Kendalynn 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 Kendalynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.7% · 221
- Black or African American14.2% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 17
- Two or more races4.1% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 4
Popularity
Kendalynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kendalynn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 244 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kendalynn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kendalynn 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 Kendalynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kendalynns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kendalynn
The name Kendalynn is a relatively modern combination of the English surname Kendall and the feminine suffix -lynn. The origin of Kendall can be traced back to the Old English words "cy̆n" meaning "royal" and "dell" meaning "valley." It was initially used as a place name referring to the royal valley in the Cumbrian region of northwest England.
In the Middle Ages, Kendall emerged as a surname adopted by families residing in this area. However, the first recorded use of Kendalynn as a given name is relatively recent, likely originating in the late 20th century as part of the trend of creating unique feminine names by combining traditional surnames or place names with popular suffixes like -lynn, -lee, or -lyn.
While there are no known historical figures specifically named Kendalynn, a few notable individuals have borne the surname Kendall throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances is John Kendall, an English clergyman and author who lived from 1573 to 1642. Another notable Kendall was Amos Kendall, an American journalist and politician who served as the Postmaster General under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren from 1835 to 1840.
In the realm of literature, Wilkie Collins, the English novelist known for works like "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone," had a daughter named Annie Kendall who was born in 1858. More recently, Anna Kendrick, the American actress and singer born in 1985, has gained popularity for her roles in films like "Pitch Perfect" and "Up in the Air."
Another individual with the surname Kendall who has left a mark in history is Kendall Jenner, the American model and media personality born in 1995, best known for her association with the Kardashian family and her successful modeling career.
It's worth noting that while the name Kendalynn itself does not have a significant historical presence, the components that make up the name, Kendall and the suffix -lynn, have their own rich cultural and linguistic origins, contributing to the unique character of this modern name.
People
Kendalynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kendalynn 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
Kendalynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kendalynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 419 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kendalynn 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 818,029 US residents.
Is Kendalynn a common name?
We classify Kendalynn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 423 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kendalynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Kendalynn was 2018, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kendalynn is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kendalynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 296 people with the name Kendalynn, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,744 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 Kendalynn 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 Kendalynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kendalynn appears almost entirely female. Of the 309 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kendalynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kendalynn is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.2%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Kendalynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kendalynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.7% (221 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 Kendalynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kendalynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kendalynn in the SSA data are female. 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 Kendalynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kendalynn 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 Kendalynn 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 Americans are named Kendalynn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.