Kendal
Kendal is given to both girls and boys: 48 girls and 12 boys were given it in 2025 (#3,276 among girls’ names and #7,006 among boys’, #4,990 among all names counting both); 13,800 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Kendal every year since 1993.
An estimated 13,200 Americans named Kendal and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 17 and 35.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kendal by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kendal mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kendal is “a female given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage.” Its etymology gives the sense “valley of the river Kent” (=).
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
From Old English Cent + dæl = “valley of the river Kent”.
/ˈkɛndəl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kendal?
#3,276 among girls’ names, 2025
Kendal fell from #1,262 in 2015 to #3,276 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.11 to 0.03 per 1,000.
657 babies in 2004, the peak
Kendal peaked in 2004, when 657 babies were given it (565 girls, #513 among girls’ names). The 60 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 9% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 48 | #3,276 | 12 | #7,006 |
| 2024 | 43 | #3,610 | 30 | #3,741 |
| 2023 | 55 | #3,035 | 27 | #4,066 |
| 2022 | 66 | #2,651 | 35 | #3,380 |
| 2021 | 68 | #2,576 | 26 | #4,070 |
| 2020 | 75 | #2,363 | 39 | #3,002 |
| 2019 | 90 | #2,100 | 37 | #3,165 |
| 2018 | 99 | #1,991 | 28 | #3,833 |
| 2017 | 86 | #2,209 | 37 | #3,162 |
| 2016 | 142 | #1,569 | 41 | #2,911 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 194 | #1,262 | 49 | #2,548 |
| 2014 | 225 | #1,126 | 51 | #2,475 |
| 2013 | 234 | #1,065 | 55 | #2,317 |
| 2012 | 313 | #854 | 75 | #1,916 |
| 2011 | 346 | #786 | 75 | #1,880 |
| 2010 | 299 | #887 | 97 | #1,620 |
| 2009 | 361 | #783 | 53 | #2,423 |
| 2008 | 352 | #815 | 59 | #2,250 |
| 2007 | 298 | #912 | 74 | #1,921 |
| 2006 | 333 | #819 | 81 | #1,733 |
| 2005 | 417 | #666 | 75 | #1,761 |
| 2004 | 565 | #513 | 92 | #1,477 |
| 2003 | 373 | #704 | 70 | #1,740 |
| 2002 | 295 | #795 | 96 | #1,372 |
| 2001 | 211 | #1,016 | 85 | #1,452 |
| 2000 | 210 | #1,007 | 95 | #1,345 |
| 1999 | 207 | #991 | 90 | #1,334 |
| 1998 | 240 | #880 | 79 | #1,438 |
| 1997 | 210 | #946 | 90 | #1,275 |
| 1996 | 214 | #916 | 126 | #990 |
| 1995 | 232 | #843 | 121 | #1,008 |
| 1994 | 268 | #768 | 140 | #927 |
| 1993 | 225 | #859 | 137 | #917 |
| 1992 | 105 | #1,501 | 115 | #1,018 |
| 1991 | 108 | #1,467 | 121 | #964 |
| 1990 | 117 | #1,355 | 135 | #884 |
| 1989 | 104 | #1,427 | 117 | #941 |
| 1988 | 115 | #1,272 | 84 | #1,084 |
| 1987 | 144 | #1,066 | 85 | #1,035 |
| 1986 | 124 | #1,152 | 75 | #1,081 |
| 1985 | 93 | #1,387 | 69 | #1,118 |
| 1984 | 130 | #1,078 | 56 | #1,231 |
| 1983 | 68 | #1,638 | 64 | #1,122 |
| 1982 | 60 | #1,815 | 52 | #1,301 |
| 1981 | 31 | #2,887 | 50 | #1,318 |
| 1980 | 37 | #2,561 | 50 | #1,333 |
| 1979 | 24 | #3,386 | 49 | #1,332 |
| 1978 | 27 | #2,977 | 50 | #1,276 |
| 1977 | 27 | #2,951 | 40 | #1,463 |
| 1976 | 16 | #4,045 | 41 | #1,400 |
| 1975 | 16 | #4,023 | 40 | #1,391 |
| 1974 | 26 | #2,794 | 41 | #1,342 |
| 1973 | 24 | #2,863 | 47 | #1,215 |
| 1972 | 28 | #2,551 | 47 | #1,203 |
| 1971 | 44 | #1,947 | 45 | #1,246 |
| 1970 | 35 | #2,254 | 49 | #1,187 |
| 1969 | 18 | #3,251 | 41 | #1,243 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,513 | 46 | #1,110 |
| 1967 | 15 | #3,401 | 37 | #1,237 |
| 1966 | 13 | #3,647 | 39 | #1,207 |
| 1965 | 22 | #2,643 | 31 | #1,393 |
| 1964 | 19 | #2,958 | 41 | #1,208 |
| 1963 | 10 | #4,390 | 54 | #1,032 |
| 1962 | 11 | #4,131 | 37 | #1,286 |
| 1961 | 19 | #2,889 | 30 | #1,479 |
| 1960 | 16 | #3,150 | 38 | #1,279 |
| 1959 | 13 | #3,527 | 43 | #1,185 |
| 1958 | 13 | #3,460 | 39 | #1,242 |
| 1957 | 10 | #4,065 | 39 | #1,258 |
| 1956 | 12 | #3,585 | 29 | #1,464 |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,274 | 25 | #1,557 |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,171 | 28 | #1,450 |
| 1953 | under 5 | 19 | #1,797 | |
| 1952 | 5 | #5,981 | 20 | #1,723 |
| 1951 | 5 | #5,807 | 23 | #1,577 |
| 1950 | under 5 | 19 | #1,725 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 12 | #2,279 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 17 | #1,853 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 18 | #1,820 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 16 | #1,851 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 16 | #1,734 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 9 | #2,548 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 12 | #2,229 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 8 | #2,819 | |
| 1941 | under 5 | 7 | #3,006 | |
| 1940 | under 5 | 9 | #2,581 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 8 | #2,719 | |
| 1938 | under 5 | 9 | #2,563 | |
| 1937 | under 5 | 6 | #3,341 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 6 | #3,487 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 5 | #3,923 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 6 | #3,575 | |
| 1931 | under 5 | 5 | #4,059 | |
| 1930 | under 5 | 8 | #3,158 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 6 | #3,985 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 6 | #3,964 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 6 | #4,080 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 5 | #4,115 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Kendal a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 13,800 Americans recorded as Kendal, 66% are girls and 34% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kendal: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kendal, and how old are they?
13,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 13,800 Americans ever recorded as Kendal. The median Kendal alive today is 24 years old; half are between 17 and 35.
The 2020 Census counted 12,270 people named Kendal (8,429 women and girls, 3,841 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,843 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 30 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 498 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 973 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,560 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,240 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,880 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Kendal born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 8 | #2,526 | 0.8× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Kendal with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 123,213 babies since 1880, Kendal is the second most given (11% of them). In 2025 it was given to 60 of their 1,205 babies (5.0%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kendal
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1910-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Alexie | 1,917 |
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Kendal and names like it
- Compare Kendal and KendallBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sKendal peaked in 2004.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kendal since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Kendal: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2004The year the most babies were named Kendal.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kendal alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.