Humanverse

Kenneth vs Kenzley

American parents have registered 1,289,312 Kenneths since 1880, against 1,845 Kenzleys. Kenneth is still ahead, with 1,148 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kenneth against Kenzley, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kenneth Kenzley

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

Kenneth has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2020, when Kenneth had 1,483 and Kenzley had 158.

Side by side

  Kenneth Kenzley
Total US births 1,289,3121,845
Most in one year 28,145158
Babies in 2025 1,14880
Estimated living today 779,0001,800
Median age today 617
Peak year 19572020
Best rank 14th boys1,373rd girls
Rank in 2025 294th2,276th
First recorded 18801996
Girls / boys 5,338 / 1,283,9741,845 / 0

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 Kenneths alive today are over 61; half the Kenzleys are over 7. That is 54 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: Kenneth and Kenzley.