Kendale
Masculine · “Old Norse dalr”
Kendale is given to both — 981 boys and 55 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kendal in Cumbria is the dale of the river Kent, and it was famous across England for one thing: Kendal Green, a coarse woolen cloth dyed with dyer's broom. Shakespeare has Falstaff claim he was set upon by three misbegotten knaves in Kendal Green.
How old is the name Kendale?
Kendale first appears in US birth records in 1963 — 62 years ago. The typical Kendale alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 900 people named Kendale are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kendale most popular?
Kendale peaked in 1990, reaching #2086 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 6,824 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kent to Kendale
The story of Kendale
English towns are frequently named for the rivers they stand on, and the river name is almost always older than the settlement. Doncaster is the Roman camp on the Don, Lancaster the camp on the Lune, Exeter the camp on the Exe, Cambridge the bridge over what was then the Granta. Kendal is the dale of the Kent. The pattern exists because rivers are named first and named by whoever was there first, so their names survive language changes that settlements do not. Kendal's own contribution to English was the cloth. Kendal Green was made there from the fourteenth century, dyed with dyer's broom over woad, and it was widely enough worn to be a byword; the town's coat of arms still carries wool. Falstaff's line in Henry IV Part One is the reference most people have met.
Meaning
Old Norse dalr, valley of the Kent
Kendale is a spelling of Kendal, a town in Cumbria named as the dale of the river Kent. The river's own name is pre-English and its meaning is not established. Dale is Old Norse dalr, a valley, part of the heavy Norse layer in northern English place names. The surname derives from the town, and the American given name from the surname. The peak is 1990.
How the name formed
- Kent
- Kendal
- Kendale
Related forms: Kendal · Kendall
Pronouncing Kendale
KEN-dal
Two syllables, stress on the first. The -dale spelling suggests a long a, but the town and the name are both said with the vowel reduced.
Nicknames for Kendale
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
- 1963
- Most boys named
- 199637 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2086reached in 1990
- Change vs 2024
- +14.3%8 in 2025, from 7
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.
Kendale in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kendal in English — spelling variant
- Kendall in English — spelling variant
Kendales among us
people named Kendale are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Kendale
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 Kendel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kendale's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kendel climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kendel's path sketches the road Kendale is walking now.
Kendale 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
Kendale beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kendale in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ken and Dale are both complete names as short forms.
- It is a genuine English town with a documented history.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- Kendall is far commoner and is now mostly female.
- The final e suggests a pronunciation the name does not have.
- It reads as a surname.
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What they receive
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Kendale
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kendales are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Kendale are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kendale in 2025?
- Kendale ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kendale?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Kendale — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kendale with classmates?
- Kendale will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kendale
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kendale? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kendale and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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