Kedrick
Masculine
Kedrick descends from a mistake, and the mistake is famous. Walter Scott wanted an Anglo-Saxon name for the Saxon nobleman in Ivanhoe, reached for Cerdic, the first king of Wessex, and produced Cedric instead. The novel was read everywhere, the misprint became a name, and every Cedric and Kedrick since is standing on a slip of the pen.
How old is the name Kedrick?
Kedrick first appears in US birth records in 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Kedrick alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 2,100 people named Kedrick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kedrick most popular?
Kedrick peaked in 1978, reaching #1034 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,974 places below that high. See the whole 1978 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cerdic to Kedrick
The story of Kedrick
Ivanhoe appeared in 1819 and did more than any other book to shape how the English-speaking world imagined the Middle Ages. Its Saxon patriarch was Cedric of Rotherwood, and readers took the name straight off the page — which is how an invented spelling entered general use within a single generation. The k-versions came later and are American: Kedrick, Cedrick, Kedrik. They belong to a habit of writing hard sounds with a k that runs through American naming, and they sit particularly comfortably in the South, where the name has always been most at home.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Because the name began as an error, it inherits no meaning of its own. Cerdic, the name Scott was reaching for, is itself unexplained: the man was a Saxon king of Wessex but his name looks British rather than Germanic, and scholars connect it to the same root as the Celtic Caratacus. Nothing about that is settled, and the meanings offered for Cedric in name books are supplied after the fact.
How the name formed
- Cerdic
- Cedric
- Kedrick
Related forms: Cédric · Cedric
Pronouncing Kedrick
KED-rik
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives an English reader no trouble at all, which is the practical argument for the k over the c.
Nicknames for Kedrick
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1927
- Most boys named
- 197871 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1034reached in 1978
- Change vs 2023
- −64.3%5 in 2025, from 14
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kedrick in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cédric in French — same name
- Cedric in English — spelling variant
Kedricks among us
people named Kedrick are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Kedrick
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ronney test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kedrick's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ronney climbed just as high around 1955, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ronney's path sketches the road Kedrick is walking now.
Kedrick sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Kedrick beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kedrick in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The k removes the only ambiguity the standard spelling has, since English c is unreliable before a vowel.
- It has a genuinely interesting origin story that a child can tell in two sentences.
- Two syllables, seven letters, and nothing hard to say.
- Cedric is the standard spelling and will be substituted constantly.
- The name carries a strong nineteenth-century literary flavor for anyone who has read the novel.
- Its meaning cannot be given honestly, because it never had one.
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What they receive
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Kedrick
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kedricks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Kedrick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kedrick in 2025?
- Kedrick ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kedrick?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Kedrick — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kedrick with classmates?
- Kedrick will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kedrick
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kedrick? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kedrick and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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