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Kunal

#11,426 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Kunala

Kunal has been given to 1,259 babies in the U.S. since 1977. In 2025 it ranked #11,426 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1994, with 60 recorded.

Babies named Kunal, 2025

1 in 553,000

Kunal over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kunal: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Kunala

Sanskrit

What Kunal means

Kunal is a form of Kunala.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Kunal is used in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi.

Origin, language, and formation

Kunal is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kunala.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,259 boys were recorded with the name Kunal between 1977 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 60 in 1994; its best national rank was #1,303 in 1983.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #10,148 in 2020 to #11,426 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,803 in 2015 to #11,426 in 2025.

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 Kunal?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,426
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kunal 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kunal. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kunals were born

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

Median birth year
1996
About 29 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
36.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
31.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,259
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 36.1% of all recorded uses (454).

Is Kunal 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
−1,278
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,623
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.60×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
10.0%
Peak was 1994 (60)
Years since peak
31
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,303
1983

Spellings of Kunal

Kunal is not the most common spelling — Kendal is, with 17.2% against Kunal's 4.6%.

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 Kunal is used

Across 1910–2025, Kunal was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 134,505 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 33,333
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3New York1 in 100,000
  4. 4Connecticut1 in —
  5. 5Illinois1 in —
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in —
  7. 7Texas1 in —
  8. 8Virginia1 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. Kunal has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kunal around the world

Where Kunal 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
    1996–2016
    #4,810
    in 2016
  • Canada
    1991–2006
    #2,447
    in 2006
  • South Australia
    1998–1998
    #534
    in 1998

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kunal by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,426
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,278
Best rank ever
#1,303
1983
Peak year
1994
60 that year
First recorded
1977
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,259
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Kunal

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

RonalKuntaJuvenalDonalVernalKungaKunioYanalReginalVinalConalKunaalKunjKunteBernalLionalDonnalNathanalKrunalKunshKunoRonnalDanalErnal

Sibling names for Kunal

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 Kunal

Top names of 1994, Kunal's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1983Boys' names starting with KPunjabi Boy Names