Kensie
A feminine variant of Kenneth, a Scottish name meaning "born of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 1,018 living Americans carry the first name Kensie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kensie today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kensie births was 2012 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kensie. 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 Kensie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kensie is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 336,694 Americans
Peak year
2012
80 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,261
Tracked since 1978
Census
Kensie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 985 people with the first name Kensie, which placed it at #12,585 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
#12,585
National first-name rank
People counted
985
985 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kensie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kensie is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.7%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Kensie 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 Kensie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.9% · 748
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 76
- Two or more races6.4% · 63
- Black or African American5.2% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 6
Popularity
Kensie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kensie from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 578 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
Kensie 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 Kensie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kensies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kensie, while Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kensie
The given name Kensie is a relatively modern name, believed to have originated from the English surname Kensy, which itself is derived from the Old English words "cene" meaning "bold" and "sige" meaning "victory." The name Kensie, therefore, can be interpreted as "bold victor" or "brave conqueror."
The earliest recorded use of the name Kensie can be traced back to the late 19th century, specifically in the United States. However, it was relatively uncommon until the latter half of the 20th century when it gained popularity as a feminine name, often used as a diminutive or nickname for names like Mackenzie or Kendra.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kensie was Kensie Everett, an American actress born in 1900. She had a brief career in silent films during the 1920s and early 1930s. Another notable figure was Kensie Hemmings, a British artist and sculptor born in 1925, whose works were exhibited in galleries across Europe.
In literature, the name Kensie appears in the 1974 novel "The Kensie Legacy" by American author Vivian Schilling. The book follows the story of a young woman named Kensie who inherits a mysterious legacy from her ancestors.
Another notable individual was Kensie Marlin, an Australian environmentalist and marine biologist born in 1961. She dedicated her life to the study and conservation of coral reefs and marine ecosystems.
More recently, Kensie is also the name of an American fashion brand founded in 1994, known for its contemporary women's clothing and accessories. The brand's name was chosen to evoke a sense of youthful energy and individuality.
While the name Kensie has gained popularity in recent decades, it remains a relatively uncommon name with a rich history and meaning rooted in the Old English language, reflecting traits of bravery and victory.
People
Kensie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kensie 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
Kensie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kensie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,018 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kensie 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 336,694 US residents.
Is Kensie a common name?
We classify Kensie as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,032 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kensie most popular?
The single biggest year for Kensie was 2012, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kensie is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kensie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 985 people with the name Kensie, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,585 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 Kensie 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 Kensie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kensie leans strongly female. 960 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 25 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Kensie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kensie is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.7%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Kensie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kensie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.9% (748 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 Kensie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kensie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kensie 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 Kensie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kensie 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 Kensie 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 have Kensie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Kensie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.