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Kendell

Feminine · “Old Norse dalr”

Kendell is given to both — 1,957 girls and 4,802 boys since 1880. See Kendell as a boy nameSee other names given to both

1957high 2004
#8362 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare12 girls in 2025

The word dale is Norse, and where it appears on an English map the Vikings settled. Dale, thorpe, by, thwaite, beck, fell and gill are all Old Norse, and their distribution traces the Danelaw almost exactly. Kendell contains one of them, and a name can be a piece of ninth-century political geography.

How old is the name Kendell?

Kendell first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Kendell alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 1,900 people named Kendell are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Kendell most popular?

Kendell peaked in 1971, reaching #2001 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 6,361 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Kendell

Scandinavian settlement in England is legible in the place names with unusual precision. The Norse elements cluster in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the East Midlands, Cumbria and the north-west, and they thin out sharply at the boundary of the Danelaw agreed between Alfred and Guthrum in the 880s. By is a farmstead or village, thorpe an outlying settlement, thwaite a clearing, beck a stream, fell a hill, gill a ravine, and dale a valley. English had its own words for most of these, dene, tun, leah, burn, hill, and the two sets sit side by side across the country with a visible frontier between them. Mapping them was one of the earliest achievements of English place name scholarship, and it produced evidence for the density of Scandinavian settlement that the written sources do not supply.

Meaning

Old Norse dalr, a valley, with the river Kent

Kendall is a town in Cumbria, formerly Kirkby Kendal, the village with a church in the valley of the river Kent. Dalr is Old Norse for a valley and the river name is older still, probably Celtic. The surname derives from the place. Kendell is a modern American respelling with a doubled l, and the name is given to both sexes; it peaks for girls in 1971.

How the name formed

  1. Kirkby Kendal
  2. Kendall
  3. Kendell

Related forms: Kendall · Kendal

Pronouncing Kendell

KEN-dul

Two syllables, stress on the first. The second syllable is fully reduced, so Kendall, Kendell and Kendal are homophones and only the spelling separates them.

Nicknames for Kendell

Moderate

KenThe front clip, unisex and a name in its own right
KennyThe diminutive, said KEN-ee
DellThe back of the name, said dell
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1957–202575380751219572025

US babies named Kendell per year from 1957 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#20011950s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1957
Most girls named
200475 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#2001reached in 1971
Change vs 2024
+9.1%12 in 2025, from 11
Kendell sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2004, with 75 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Kendell in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Kendall in English — spelling variant
  • Kendal in English — spelling variant

Kendells among us

1,900

people named Kendell are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Kendell

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Jamesetta test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kendell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jamesetta climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jamesetta's path sketches the road Kendell is walking now.

40%chance Kendell will feel dated by 2040
Kendell, aligned on its peakJamesetta· peak 1950not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-30 yrs+50 yrsJamesetta · #13430Kendell today
Kendell today is about where Jamesetta stood in 2004 — 54 years past a #2002-sized peak. Within 15 years, Jamesetta had drifted out of the mainstream charts.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Kendell 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

Kendell beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Kendell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Kendellthis name12#8362Lona12#8362Peggy12#8362Leda12#8362Margarette12#8362

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • Both elements have settled meanings and a documented place behind them.
  • Ken and Dell are two very different short forms.
  • It works for either sex.
What to consider
  • Kendall is the standard spelling by a wide margin.
  • It is read as male by many Americans.
  • The doubled l changes nothing audible.

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Kendell

Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Kendells are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Kendell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How popular is the name Kendell in 2025?
Kendell ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Kendell?
About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Kendell — 12 in all.
Will my child share the name Kendell with classmates?
Kendell will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Kendell

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kendell? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Kendell and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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