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Kenna

#759 in 2025Girls' name

Descendant of Cionaodh

Kenna has been given to 13,781 babies in the U.S. since 1924. In 2025 it ranked #759 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 444 recorded.

Babies named Kenna, 2025

1 in 9,290

Kenna over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kenna: meaning, origin, and history

Descendant of Cionaodh

Scottish Gaelic

What Kenna means

Kenna means “descendant of Cionaodh”, associated with Cionaoith.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* 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.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Kenna (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Kenna is used in English. Its origins include Scottish Gaelic.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kenneth and McKenna.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Kenna is pronounced /ˈkɛnə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,536 girls were recorded with the name Kenna between 1924 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 444 in 2016; its best national rank was #661 in 2016.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #684 in 2020 to #759 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #677 in 2015 to #759 in 2025.

In the United States, 245 boys were recorded with the name Kenna between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1956; its best national rank was #2,565 in 1956.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,412 in 2020 to #13,011 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #10,124 in 2015 to #13,011 in 2025.

How common is Kenna?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 9,290
357 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 4,500
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#759
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
6,438 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kenna sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1001%
School of 5005%

Put another way: gather 6,438 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kenna. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kennas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kenna was born before 2007 — so the typical Kenna is around 18 today.

Median birth year
2007
About 18 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
26.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
65.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
13,210
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 26.9% of all recorded uses (3,647).

Is Kenna rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−33
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−75
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−82
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.85×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
80.4%
Peak was 2016 (444)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#661
2016

Spellings of Kenna

Kenna is not the most common spelling — Anna is, with 23.7% against Kenna's 0.35%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kenna is used

Across 2016–2025, Kenna was most concentrated in South Dakota — about 1 in 1,000 girls, against 1 in 3,580 across all states with data. It was least common in Connecticut (1 in 9,091).

11100 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1South Dakota1 in 1,000
  2. 2Iowa1 in 1,136
  3. 3Montana1 in 1,587
  4. 4Kansas1 in 1,695
  5. 5Nebraska1 in 1,754
  6. 6Minnesota1 in 1,887
  7. 7Oklahoma1 in 1,961
  8. 8Wisconsin1 in 2,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Kenna is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 45% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Kenna around the world

Where Kenna ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1982–2025
    #632
    in 2025
  • France
    2008–2022
    #5,460
    in 2022
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #913
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1973–1973
    #695
    in 1973

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Kenna

People whose public names include Kenna, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Kenna by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#759
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 75
Best rank ever
#661
2016
Peak year
2016
444 that year
First recorded
1924
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
13,536
Count in 2025
357

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#13,011
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,599
Best rank ever
#2,565
1956
Peak year
1956
11 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
245
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Kenna

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KeniaKenyaKendalKenzieKenleyJannaKenziKennediKendaKendylDannaKensleyTiannaJonnaAyannaIvannaJohnnaLennaHannaJeannaKiannaKenleeViennaGlenna

Names with a curve like Kenna

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Kenna, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RaynaBelenAlizaAlenaChayaAliaLianaRivkaMariamGiovannaJolieMaia

Sibling names for Kenna

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kenna

Top names of 2016, Kenna's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2016Girls' names starting with KScottish Girl NamesScottish Names