Ken
Masculine · “born of fire”
Ken is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 33,013 boys against 30 girls since 1880.
Ken is the front of Kenneth, and Kenneth is two Gaelic names that English collapsed into one. Cinaed and Coinneach are different words with different meanings, and both were anglicized the same way.
How old is the name Ken?
Ken first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Ken alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 24,500 people named Ken are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ken most popular?
Ken peaked in 1960, reaching #177 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 3,063 places below that high. See the whole 1960 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cinaed to Ken
The story of Ken
Cinaed mac Ailpín is the king traditionally credited with founding the kingdom of Alba, and his name was carried by Scottish royalty after him. Coinneach was a separate and equally common Gaelic name in the Highlands. Both became Kenneth in English, which spread through the English-speaking world in the twentieth century. Ken was registered as a legal name in its own right in American records and peaked in the mid-1950s.
Meaningscholars disagree
born of fire; handsome
Kenneth renders two distinct Gaelic names. Cinaed, the name of the ninth-century king who united Picts and Scots, is usually read as 'born of fire'. Coinneach is a separate name meaning 'handsome' or 'comely'. English anglicized both as Kenneth, so the meaning depends on which Gaelic name a family's line actually carried.
How the name formed
- Cinaed
- Kenneth
- Ken
Related forms: Coinneach · Cionaodh · Ken
Pronouncing Ken
KEN
One syllable. Said identically in every English accent, and the identical spelling exists as an unrelated Japanese name.
Nicknames for Ken
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
- 1900
- Most boys named
- 19611,665 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #177reached in 1960
- Change vs 2023
- −2.7%36 in 2025, from 37
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.
Ken in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Coinneach in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Cionaodh in Irish — related form
- Ken in Japanese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Kens among us
people named Ken are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Ken
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 Booker test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ken's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Booker climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Booker's path sketches the road Ken is walking now.
Ken 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
Where Ken is headed
Ken is easing off slowly — about 19% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ken beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ken in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kenneth stands behind it with a documented Scottish royal history.
- Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard in any language.
- It functions in Japanese as well as English contexts, which very few Western names manage.
- The parent name conflates two different Gaelic names with different meanings.
- It is closely associated with the middle of the twentieth century in American use.
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Ken
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 24,500 people named Ken are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ken in 2025?
- Ken ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ken?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Ken — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ken with classmates?
- Ken will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ken
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Pace#3240 · Stoney#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ken? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ken and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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