Kensley
From an English surname meaning "king's meadow" or "king's clearing".
Name Census estimates that about 8,827 living Americans carry the first name Kensley. It is a predominantly female name (96.4% of registrations). The average person named Kensley today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kensley births was 2018 (749 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kensley. 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 Kensley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kensley is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 320 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Kensley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.8K
~ 1 in 38,830 Americans
Peak year
2018
749 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#741
Tracked since 1987
Census
Kensley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,918 people with the first name Kensley, which placed it at #3,499 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
#3,499
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,918 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kensley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kensley is White at 62.3%. The next largest groups are Black (23.8%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Kensley 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 Kensley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.3% · 3,684
- Black or African American23.8% · 1,410
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 363
- Two or more races6.0% · 354
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 69
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 38
Gender
Gender distribution for Kensley
Kensley leans heavily female at 96.4% of total registrations, but 320 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kensley as a male name
- Ranked #5,147 in 2024
- 19 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (19 births)
Kensley as a female name
- Ranked #741 in 2024
- 378 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (738 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kensley leans strongly female. 5,573 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 341 male bearers (5.8%).
Popularity
Kensley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kensley 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 5,074 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kensley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kensley 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 Kensley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kensleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Kensley, while New Mexico, Idaho, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 183 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kensley
The given name Kensley is a relatively modern English name with roots in the Old English language. It is believed to have originated as a combination of the Old English words "cene," meaning bold or brave, and "leah," meaning a meadow or clearing. This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived in a meadow or clearing and was known for their bravery or boldness.
While the name Kensley is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it shares similarities with other Old English names that were more common in the past. For example, the name Kendrick, which is derived from the Old English words "cene" and "ric" (meaning ruler or power), has a similar origin and meaning.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kensley is difficult to pinpoint, as it was not a widely used name until more recent times. However, there are a few notable individuals throughout history who bore this name:
1. Kensley Haynes-Overton (1888-1962), an American lawyer and politician who served as the Attorney General of North Carolina from 1937 to 1939.
2. Kensley Rudolph (1942-2018), a West Indian cricketer who played Test cricket for the West Indies in the 1960s.
3. Kensley Jansen (born 1987), a South African professional baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball.
4. Kensley Britt (born 1983), an American professional football player who played as a wide receiver in the National Football League.
5. Kensley Garnett (1916-1998), a British author and historian who wrote several books on the history of England and the British Empire.
While the name Kensley was not widely popular in the past, its unique blend of Old English roots and modern appeal has led to an increase in its usage in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries.
People
Kensley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kensley 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
Kensley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kensley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,827 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kensley 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 38,830 US residents.
Is Kensley a common name?
We classify Kensley as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,901 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kensley most popular?
The single biggest year for Kensley was 2018, when 749 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kensley is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kensley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,918 people with the name Kensley, or 1.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,499 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 Kensley 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 Kensley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kensley leans strongly female. 5,573 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 341 male bearers (5.8%). 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 Kensley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kensley is White at 62.3%. The next largest groups are Black (23.8%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Kensley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kensley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.3% (3,684 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 Kensley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kensley a female name?
Yes, 96.4% of people registered as Kensley 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 Kensley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kensley 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 Kensley 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 Kensley?
You can see how many Americans are named Kensley on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.