Kendyl
A feminine variant of Kendall, derived from the Old English name meaning "valley of the River Kent".
Name Census estimates that about 5,113 living Americans carry the first name Kendyl. It is a predominantly female name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Kendyl today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kendyl births was 2012 (271 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kendyl. 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 Kendyl with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kendyl is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 139 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
5.1K
~ 1 in 67,036 Americans
Peak year
2012
271 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2023 SSA rank
#3,716
Tracked since 1963
Census
Kendyl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,627 people with the first name Kendyl, which placed it at #4,150 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
#4,150
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,627 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kendyl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kendyl is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Kendyl 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 Kendyl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.4% · 3,535
- Black or African American12.3% · 567
- Two or more races5.4% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 207
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Kendyl
Kendyl leans heavily female at 97.3% of total registrations, but 139 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kendyl as a male name
- Ranked #11,567 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1992 (9 births)
Kendyl as a female name
- Ranked #3,716 in 2024
- 41 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (264 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kendyl leans strongly female. 4,453 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 171 male bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Kendyl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kendyl from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,885 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kendyl 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 Kendyl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kendyls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kendyl, while New Jersey, North Dakota, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 87 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kendyl
The name Kendyl is a relatively modern English variant of the Welsh name Kendall, which itself derives from the Welsh words "cyn" meaning "chief" or "principal" and "dâl" meaning "valley" or "dale". The name is thought to have originated in the 12th or 13th century as a place name referring to the principal valley in a particular region of Wales.
While the name Kendall has been in use for centuries, the specific spelling Kendyl is believed to have emerged in the late 20th century as a more unique and feminine variation. There are no known historical references or famous individuals from earlier periods who bore this particular spelling.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Kendyl date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it began to be used as a given name for baby girls in English-speaking countries like the United States and Canada. However, it remained relatively uncommon until the late 20th and early 21st centuries, when it experienced a surge in popularity as a feminine alternative to the more traditional Kendall.
One of the first notable individuals to bear the name Kendyl was American actress Kendyl Shull, born in 1992. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including the Nickelodeon series The Thundermans.
Another individual with the name Kendyl is Canadian singer-songwriter Kendyl Beatrice, born in 1993. She gained recognition for her participation in the reality television show Canadian Idol in 2008.
In the realm of sports, Kendyl Strickland is an American track and field athlete born in 1996, specializing in the long jump and triple jump events.
Kendyl Lindaman, born in 1998, is an American softball player who has represented the United States national team and played for the University of Florida.
Lastly, Kendyl Hilaire is a Canadian model and social media influencer, born in 1995, who has worked with various fashion brands and has a significant following on platforms like Instagram.
People
Kendyl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kendyl 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
Kendyl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kendyl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kendyl 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 67,036 US residents.
Is Kendyl a common name?
We classify Kendyl as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,203 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kendyl most popular?
The single biggest year for Kendyl was 2012, when 271 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kendyl is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kendyl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,627 people with the name Kendyl, or 1.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,150 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 Kendyl 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 Kendyl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kendyl leans strongly female. 4,453 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 171 male bearers (3.7%). 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 Kendyl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kendyl is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Kendyl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kendyl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.4% (3,535 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 Kendyl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kendyl a female name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Kendyl 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 Kendyl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kendyl 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 Kendyl 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 are called Kendyl?
You can see how many people have the name Kendyl on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.