Kenji
Kenji was given to 249 boys in 2025, #944 among boys’ names; 5,657 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,130 Americans named Kenji and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 5 and 26.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kenji by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kenji mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kenji is “a male given name from Japanese.”
Borrowed from Japanese けんじ (Kenji).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kenji?
#944 among boys’ names, 2025
Kenji rose from #1,410 in 2015 to #944 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.06 to 0.15 per 1,000.
337 babies in 2022, the peak
Kenji peaked in 2022, when 337 boys were given it, #754 among boys’ names. The 249 births of 2025 are 74% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 249 | #944 | 0.15 |
| 2024 | 284 | #856 | 0.16 |
| 2023 | 296 | #828 | 0.17 |
| 2022 | 337 | #754 | 0.19 |
| 2021 | 281 | #847 | 0.16 |
| 2020 | 245 | #913 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 156 | #1,222 | 0.09 |
| 2018 | 141 | #1,296 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 137 | #1,319 | 0.07 |
| 2016 | 125 | #1,409 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (99)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 122 | #1,410 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 96 | #1,620 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 125 | #1,358 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 124 | #1,364 | 0.07 |
| 2011 | 147 | #1,204 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 119 | #1,403 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 159 | #1,150 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 145 | #1,216 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 108 | #1,486 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 99 | #1,523 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 75 | #1,762 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 60 | #2,004 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 60 | #1,947 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 59 | #1,902 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 72 | #1,636 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 52 | #1,979 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 56 | #1,787 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 66 | #1,588 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 44 | #2,041 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 43 | #2,030 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 55 | #1,656 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 27 | #2,726 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 30 | #2,477 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 39 | #2,020 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 32 | #2,262 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 31 | #2,279 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 27 | #2,438 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 28 | #2,217 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 22 | #2,515 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 34 | #1,813 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 30 | #1,946 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 35 | #1,672 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 28 | #1,929 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 45 | #1,430 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 40 | #1,530 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 70 | #1,083 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 84 | #971 | 0.05 |
| 1978 | 128 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 57 | #1,167 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 26 | #1,902 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 26 | #1,858 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 25 | #1,863 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 28 | #1,677 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 21 | #1,999 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 19 | #2,170 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 16 | #2,353 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 17 | #2,086 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 17 | #1,993 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 13 | #2,298 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,547 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 9 | #2,893 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,160 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,497 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,476 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #3,520 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,213 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,811 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,423 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,211 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,747 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,093 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,766 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,233 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 9 | #2,564 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,144 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,359 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,460 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,662 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,158 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,576 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,565 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,529 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,760 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 17 | #1,935 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,087 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,031 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 29 | #1,378 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 20 | #1,810 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,573 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 30 | #1,359 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,213 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 27 | #1,444 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,557 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,951 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 15 | #2,043 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,642 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,634 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,366 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,054 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kenji a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kenji has been given almost only to boys: 33 girls in 99 years of records.
Girls and boys named Kenji: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kenji, and how old are they?
5,130 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 5,657 Americans ever recorded as Kenji. The median Kenji alive today is 13 years old; half are between 5 and 26.
The 2020 Census counted 4,212 people named Kenji (105 women and girls, 4,107 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,566 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 21 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 42 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 532 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 519 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,440 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,580 |
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 Kenji born?
The states with the most babies named Kenji are California, Florida and Washington, with 39% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Washington is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 51 | #585 | 2.2× |
| Florida | 15 | #937 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 12 | #592 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 11 | #776 | 0.2× |
| New York | 10 | #1,171 | 0.7× |
| Wisconsin | 10 | #503 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 10 | #846 | 0.5× |
| Texas | 9 | #1,836 | 0.4× |
| Hawaii | 8 | #135 | 8.2× |
| Georgia | 8 | #1,045 | 0.6× |
Where Kenji is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kenji is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1913 it was given 8.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Kenji with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kenji
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
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 Kenji and names like it
- Compare Kenji and CamiloBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sKenji peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kenji since 1910.
- Japanese namesWiktionary’s origin for Kenji: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Kenji.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Kenji alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with KMost given first.