Kent
Kent was given to 101 boys in 2025, #1,659 among boys’ names; 69,493 Americans have been recorded with it since 1885 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 49,400 Americans named Kent and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (71% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 49 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kent by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kent mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kent is “a male given name transferred from the surname, of mostly American usage.” Its etymology gives the senses “gathering, folkmoot, hillock” (céite) and “corner, rim” (*kantos).
Inherited from Middle English Kent, from Old English Cent, from Latin Cantium, from Brythonic *Cantio (compare Old Irish céite (“gathering, folkmoot, hillock”)), from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”).
/kɛnt/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kent?
#1,659 among boys’ names, 2025
Kent fell from #1,184 in 2015 to #1,659 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 81.9 to 59.1 per million.
2,592 babies in 1962, the peak
Kent peaked in 1962, when 2,592 babies were given it (2,587 boys, #136 among boys’ names). The 101 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 101 | #1,659 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 104 | #1,636 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 102 | #1,676 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 116 | #1,545 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 130 | #1,415 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 121 | #1,432 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 122 | #1,438 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 157 | #1,201 | 0.09 |
| 2017 | 140 | #1,297 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 164 | #1,164 | 0.09 |
Every recorded year (129)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 157 | #1,184 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 149 | #1,227 | 0.08 |
| 2013 | 161 | #1,132 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 114 | #1,453 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 132 | #1,300 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 129 | #1,329 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 122 | #1,400 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 140 | #1,246 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 148 | #1,191 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 139 | #1,209 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 154 | #1,073 | 0.08 |
| 2004 | 159 | #1,031 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 192 | #882 | 0.10 |
| 2002 | 169 | #949 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 177 | #894 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 215 | #772 | 0.11 |
| 1999 | 191 | #801 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 228 | #723 | 0.12 |
| 1997 | 239 | #679 | 0.13 |
| 1996 | 257 | #651 | 0.14 |
| 1995 | 227 | #702 | 0.12 |
| 1994 | 301 | #598 | 0.16 |
| 1993 | 331 | #560 | 0.17 |
| 1992 | 369 | #527 | 0.18 |
| 1991 | 365 | #527 | 0.18 |
| 1990 | 394 | #487 | 0.19 |
| 1989 | 438 | #448 | 0.22 |
| 1988 | 461 | #420 | 0.24 |
| 1987 | 444 | #415 | 0.24 |
| 1986 | 465 | #392 | 0.25 |
| 1985 | 532 | #350 | 0.29 |
| 1984 | 549 | #341 | 0.30 |
| 1983 | 556 | #334 | 0.31 |
| 1982 | 559 | #337 | 0.31 |
| 1981 | 498 | #354 | 0.28 |
| 1980 | 497 | #357 | 0.28 |
| 1979 | 482 | #363 | 0.28 |
| 1978 | 499 | #345 | 0.30 |
| 1977 | 487 | #357 | 0.30 |
| 1976 | 508 | #338 | 0.32 |
| 1975 | 501 | #341 | 0.32 |
| 1974 | 582 | #313 | 0.37 |
| 1973 | 728 | #263 | 0.47 |
| 1972 | 786 | #254 | 0.48 |
| 1971 | 1,002 | #236 | 0.57 |
| 1970 | 1,153 | #216 | 0.62 |
| 1969 | 1,225 | #203 | 0.69 |
| 1968 | 1,219 | #194 | 0.70 |
| 1967 | 1,394 | #181 | 0.80 |
| 1966 | 1,572 | #172 | 0.88 |
| 1965 | 1,846 | #161 | 1.0 |
| 1964 | 2,246 | #146 | 1.1 |
| 1963 | 2,398 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1962 | 2,587 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 1961 | 2,374 | #147 | 1.1 |
| 1960 | 2,397 | #148 | 1.1 |
| 1959 | 2,466 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1958 | 2,405 | #144 | 1.1 |
| 1957 | 2,296 | #150 | 1.1 |
| 1956 | 2,137 | #149 | 1.0 |
| 1955 | 1,856 | #156 | 0.90 |
| 1954 | 1,721 | #167 | 0.84 |
| 1953 | 1,636 | #166 | 0.83 |
| 1952 | 1,618 | #164 | 0.83 |
| 1951 | 1,323 | #182 | 0.70 |
| 1950 | 1,233 | #180 | 0.69 |
| 1949 | 1,071 | #194 | 0.60 |
| 1948 | 1,027 | #194 | 0.59 |
| 1947 | 1,120 | #182 | 0.61 |
| 1946 | 888 | #195 | 0.55 |
| 1945 | 715 | #202 | 0.53 |
| 1944 | 741 | #202 | 0.54 |
| 1943 | 813 | #198 | 0.57 |
| 1942 | 717 | #210 | 0.52 |
| 1941 | 676 | #202 | 0.55 |
| 1940 | 578 | #216 | 0.50 |
| 1939 | 495 | #234 | 0.45 |
| 1938 | 435 | #265 | 0.39 |
| 1937 | 405 | #272 | 0.38 |
| 1936 | 437 | #255 | 0.42 |
| 1935 | 351 | #290 | 0.34 |
| 1934 | 249 | #349 | 0.24 |
| 1933 | 197 | #388 | 0.20 |
| 1932 | 209 | #387 | 0.20 |
| 1931 | 179 | #422 | 0.17 |
| 1930 | 166 | #460 | 0.15 |
| 1929 | 138 | #501 | 0.13 |
| 1928 | 128 | #540 | 0.12 |
| 1927 | 124 | #555 | 0.11 |
| 1926 | 123 | #549 | 0.11 |
| 1925 | 121 | #563 | 0.11 |
| 1924 | 89 | #694 | 0.08 |
| 1923 | 99 | #648 | 0.09 |
| 1922 | 98 | #650 | 0.09 |
| 1921 | 71 | #808 | 0.06 |
| 1920 | 91 | #670 | 0.09 |
| 1919 | 63 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 53 | #913 | 0.05 |
| 1917 | 56 | #857 | 0.06 |
| 1916 | 59 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1915 | 46 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 25 | #1,176 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 35 | #813 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 22 | #980 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 18 | #777 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,013 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 13 | #821 | 0.08 |
| 1908 | 10 | #918 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,051 | 0.05 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,186 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 7 | #963 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,085 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,410 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,137 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,031 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,174 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 8 | #800 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 7 | #806 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,019 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Kent a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kent has been given almost only to boys: 171 girls in 129 years of records.
Girls and boys named Kent: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kent, and how old are they?
49,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 71% of the 69,493 Americans ever recorded as Kent. The median Kent alive today is 62 years old; half are between 49 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 54,012 people named Kent (139 women and girls, 53,873 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 53,604 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,030 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 24,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 12,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,410 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,710 |
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 Kent born?
The states with the most babies named Kent are California, Illinois and Indiana, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Indiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 6,672 | #1,757 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 4,730 | #1,394 | 1.3× |
| Indiana | 3,391 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Ohio | 3,375 | #1,382 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 3,018 | #1,707 | 0.7× |
| Utah | 2,884 | not ranked | 5.4× |
| Minnesota | 2,626 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Iowa | 2,606 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Michigan | 2,570 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 2,424 | #1,907 | 0.4× |
Where Kent is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kent is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 5.4 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 Kent 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 69,707 babies since 1880, Kent is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 101 of their 101 babies (100%), again the 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 Kent
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 Kent and names like it
- Compare Kent and KennetBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sKent peaked in 1962.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kent since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Kent: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1962The year the most babies were named Kent.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Kent alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with KMost given first.