Kennedy vs Kennon
American parents have registered 101,120 Kennedys since 1880, against 1,826 Kennons. Kennedy is still ahead, with 3,019 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Kennedy Kennon
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 112 years in which either name was published, Kennedy for 92 years and Kennon for 20 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.
- 1912–1931 Kennedy ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1936–1943 Kennon ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1957–1971 Kennedy ahead
- 1972–1974 Kennon ahead
- 1975–2025 Kennedy ahead
16 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Kennedy | Kennon | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 101,120 | 1,826 |
| Most in one year | 4,688 | 35 |
| Babies in 2025 | 3,019 | 15 |
| Estimated living today | 100,000 | 1,500 |
| Median age today | 13 | 36 |
| Peak year | 2015 | 2004 |
| Best rank | 58th girls | 3,014th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 85th | 5,861st |
| First recorded | 1912 | 1917 |
| Girls / boys | 93,663 / 7,457 | 30 / 1,796 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Kennons alive today are over 36; half the Kennedys are over 13. That is 23 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kennedy and Kennon.