Humanverse

Kenny vs Kenyada

American parents have registered 52,479 Kennys since 1880, against 711 Kenyadas. Kenny is still ahead, with 161 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Kenny Kenyada

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

Kenny has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1908 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1975, when Kenny had 354 and Kenyada had 30.

Side by side

  Kenny Kenyada
Total US births 52,479711
Most in one year 1,94943
Babies in 2025 161under 5
Estimated living today 42,000680
Median age today 5039
Peak year 19601982
Best rank 169th boys2,704th girls
Rank in 2025 1,267thunranked
First recorded 19081972
Girls / boys 548 / 51,931565 / 146

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 Kenyadas are over 39. That is 11 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kenny and Kenyada.