Humanverse

Kenny vs Kensington

American parents have registered 52,479 Kennys since 1880, against 3,112 Kensingtons. Kenny is still ahead, with 161 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kenny against Kensington, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kenny Kensington

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 116 years in which either name was published, Kenny for 112 years and Kensington for 4 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Kenny Kensington
Total US births 52,4793,112
Most in one year 1,949292
Babies in 2025 16160
Estimated living today 42,0003,100
Median age today 5010
Peak year 19602015
Best rank 169th boys972nd girls
Rank in 2025 1,267th2,822nd
First recorded 19081997
Girls / boys 548 / 51,9312,950 / 162

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 Kennys alive today are over 50; half the Kensingtons are over 10. That is 40 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: Kenny and Kensington.