Kenyon
Derived from an Old English surname used in reference to a person from Kennet or Kent.
Name Census estimates that about 7,392 living Americans carry the first name Kenyon. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Kenyon today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kenyon births was 2005 (323 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kenyon. 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 Kenyon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kenyon is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 187 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
7.4K
~ 1 in 46,368 Americans
Peak year
2005
323 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,729
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kenyon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,043 people with the first name Kenyon, which placed it at #3,442 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
#3,442
National first-name rank
People counted
6.0K
6,043 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kenyon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenyon is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (33.5%) and Two or More Races (9.2%). 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 Kenyon 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 Kenyon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.0% · 3,020
- White33.5% · 2,026
- Two or more races9.2% · 556
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 256
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 60
Gender
Gender distribution for Kenyon
Kenyon leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 187 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kenyon as a male name
- Ranked #3,729 in 2024
- 30 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (323 births)
Kenyon as a female name
- Ranked #14,714 in 2007
- 7 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1974 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenyon leans strongly male. 5,832 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 215 female bearers (3.6%).
Popularity
Kenyon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kenyon from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,502 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kenyon 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 Kenyon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kenyons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Kenyon, while Iowa, Nevada, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 133 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kenyon
The name Kenyon has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the words "cyne" meaning "royal" and "tun" meaning "settlement" or "estate". It was originally used as a surname, referring to someone who lived in a royal manor or estate.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kenyon dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appeared as a place name and surname in various regions of the country.
Over time, Kenyon transitioned from being a surname to being used as a given name, particularly in England and other English-speaking countries. It gained popularity as a masculine first name during the 19th century.
One notable historical figure with the name Kenyon was Kenyon Cox (1856-1919), an American painter, illustrator, and writer. He was known for his murals and portraits, and also served as a teacher at the Art Students League in New York.
Another notable Kenyon was Kenyon Butterfield (1923-1986), an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Attorney General under President Ford from 1975 to 1976.
In the literary world, Kenyon Calvert Craufurd (1887-1915) was a British poet and writer who is best known for his poetry collections, including "The Curlew's Cry" and "The Battle of the Suvla Bay".
Kenyon College, a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, was founded in 1824 and named after Lord Kenyon, a prominent English judge and politician in the late 18th century.
Another notable figure with the name Kenyon was Kenyon Martin (born 1977), an American professional basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the New Jersey Nets and the Denver Nuggets.
While the name Kenyon has its roots in Old English, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions, particularly in the English-speaking world, and has been associated with individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kenyon
People
Kenyon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kenyon 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
Kenyon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kenyon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kenyon 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 46,368 US residents.
Is Kenyon a common name?
We classify Kenyon as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,133 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kenyon most popular?
The single biggest year for Kenyon was 2005, when 323 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kenyon is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kenyon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,043 people with the name Kenyon, or 2.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,442 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 Kenyon 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 Kenyon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kenyon leans strongly male. 5,832 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 215 female bearers (3.6%). 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 Kenyon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kenyon is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (33.5%) and Two or More Races (9.2%). 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 Kenyon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kenyon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (3,020 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 Kenyon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kenyon a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Kenyon 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 Kenyon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kenyon 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 Kenyon 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 Kenyon as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.