Kenna
Kenna was given to 357 girls in 2025, #759 among girls’ names; 13,781 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 13,200 Americans named Kenna and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 9 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kenna by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kenna mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kenna is “a female given name from Scottish Gaelic, masculine equivalent Kenneth.”
As a Scottish surname, shortened from McKenna.
As a Manx and Irish surname, from Ó Cionaodha /Ó Cionaoith (“descendant of Cionaodh”), a name usually Anglicized as Kenneth.
/ˈkɛnə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kenna?
#759 among girls’ names, 2025
Kenna fell from #677 in 2015 to #759 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.24 to 0.22 per 1,000.
455 babies in 2016, the peak
Kenna peaked in 2016, when 455 babies were given it (444 girls, #661 among girls’ names). The 362 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 80% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 357 | #759 | 0.22 |
| 2024 | 389 | #726 | 0.24 |
| 2023 | 377 | #747 | 0.23 |
| 2022 | 430 | #679 | 0.26 |
| 2021 | 406 | #709 | 0.25 |
| 2020 | 416 | #684 | 0.26 |
| 2019 | 436 | #664 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 426 | #686 | 0.25 |
| 2017 | 404 | #712 | 0.23 |
| 2016 | 444 | #661 | 0.25 |
Every recorded year (96)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 422 | #677 | 0.24 |
| 2014 | 329 | #842 | 0.18 |
| 2013 | 253 | #992 | 0.14 |
| 2012 | 299 | #886 | 0.17 |
| 2011 | 316 | #836 | 0.18 |
| 2010 | 318 | #845 | 0.18 |
| 2009 | 378 | #751 | 0.21 |
| 2008 | 335 | #843 | 0.18 |
| 2007 | 343 | #836 | 0.18 |
| 2006 | 289 | #916 | 0.15 |
| 2005 | 293 | #864 | 0.16 |
| 2004 | 320 | #795 | 0.17 |
| 2003 | 301 | #821 | 0.16 |
| 2002 | 286 | #810 | 0.16 |
| 2001 | 239 | #930 | 0.13 |
| 2000 | 215 | #989 | 0.12 |
| 1999 | 205 | #1,000 | 0.12 |
| 1998 | 187 | #1,052 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 171 | #1,102 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 156 | #1,168 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 140 | #1,223 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 129 | #1,316 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 104 | #1,511 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 98 | #1,576 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 107 | #1,475 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 112 | #1,412 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 102 | #1,446 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 105 | #1,358 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 81 | #1,557 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 81 | #1,519 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 97 | #1,354 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 85 | #1,384 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 66 | #1,682 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 80 | #1,498 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 72 | #1,621 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 72 | #1,617 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 60 | #1,800 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 64 | #1,660 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 85 | #1,341 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 64 | #1,579 | 0.04 |
| 1975 | 73 | #1,433 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 73 | #1,404 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 77 | #1,321 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 79 | #1,298 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 81 | #1,328 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 79 | #1,337 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 71 | #1,364 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 67 | #1,367 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 51 | #1,588 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 59 | #1,437 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 68 | #1,331 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 88 | #1,176 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 78 | #1,244 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 66 | #1,368 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 69 | #1,344 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 66 | #1,358 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 62 | #1,364 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 59 | #1,390 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 66 | #1,311 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 68 | #1,262 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 56 | #1,350 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 50 | #1,428 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 43 | #1,497 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 39 | #1,541 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 47 | #1,371 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 31 | #1,696 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 38 | #1,493 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 34 | #1,611 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 26 | #1,921 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 28 | #1,693 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 25 | #1,680 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 31 | #1,474 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 25 | #1,728 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 17 | #2,152 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 17 | #2,057 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,493 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,666 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,663 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 8 | #3,299 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,936 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,587 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,634 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 6 | #4,119 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,862 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,938 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,476 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kenna a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 13,781 Americans recorded as Kenna, 98% are girls and 2% boys. In 2025 it went to 357 girls and 5 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kenna: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kenna, and how old are they?
13,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 13,781 Americans ever recorded as Kenna. The median Kenna alive today is 18 years old; half are between 9 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 10,812 people named Kenna (10,538 women and girls, 274 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,055 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 89 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 843 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,060 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,600 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,480 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,130 |
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 Kenna born?
The states with the most babies named Kenna are Texas, California and Ohio, with 24% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 28 | #1,018 | 0.8× |
| California | 25 | #1,070 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 21 | #509 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 20 | #540 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 18 | #898 | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 14 | #693 | 0.6× |
| Iowa | 14 | #253 | 1.5× |
| Washington | 13 | #529 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 13 | #749 | 0.6× |
| New York | 13 | #1,121 | 0.2× |
Where Kenna is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kenna is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1915 it was given 1.7 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 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 Kenna 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 69,452 babies since 1880, Kenna is the second most given (20% of them). In 2025 it was given to 362 of their 728 babies (50%), the most given that year.
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 Kenna
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 Kenna and names like it
- Compare Kenna and KenyaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sKenna peaked in 2016.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kenna since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Kenna: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Kenna.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Kenna alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with KMost given first.