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Kenta

#10,212 in 2025Boys' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Kenta has been given to 716 babies in the U.S. since 1973. In 2025 it ranked #10,212 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1977, with 48 recorded.

Babies named Kenta, 2025

1 in 474,000

Kenta over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kenta: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Kenta means

Kenta is documented with more than one possible Japanese character combination. The Latin-letter spelling records a pronunciation; it does not specify one unique kanji spelling or one universal meaning.

Possible character meanings include healthy, strong, thick, big, great.

Origin, language, and formation

Kenta is used in English and Swedish. Its origins include Japanese.

Kenta comes through Japanese けんた.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kenneth and Kent.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 711 boys were recorded with the name Kenta between 1973 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 48 in 1977; its best national rank was #1,302 in 1977.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #7,266 in 2020 to #10,212 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,313 in 2015 to #10,212 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Kenta between 1978 and 1978. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1978; its best national rank was #10,503 in 1978.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kenta?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 244,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#10,212
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kenta sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kenta. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kentas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kenta was born before 1996 — so the typical Kenta is around 29 today.

Median birth year
1996
About 29 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
30.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
37.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
711
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 30.4% of all recorded uses (216).

Is Kenta 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,946
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,899
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.64×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
14.6%
Peak was 1977 (48)
Years since peak
48
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,302
1977

Spellings of Kenta

Kenta is not the most common spelling — Keith is, with 67.1% against Kenta's 0.11%.

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 Kenta is used

Across 1910–2025, Kenta was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 385,241 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Louisiana1 in —
  3. 3New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Kenta has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kenta around the world

Where Kenta 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.

  • France
    2023–2023
    #6,412
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1984–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kenta by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#10,212
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,946
Best rank ever
#1,302
1977
Peak year
1977
48 that year
First recorded
1973
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
711
Count in 2025
7

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#10,503
1978
Peak year
1978
5 that year
First recorded
1978
Last recorded
1978
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kenta

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

KentoKenoKendonKennerKensonKendryKennaKenaiKenleyKennanKenielKenayKendenKenethKennonKenazKenonKendaleKenanKenzoKenlyKennKenjiKenrick

Sibling names for Kenta

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 Kenta

Top names of 1977, Kenta's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1977Boys' names starting with K