Kendell
Masculine · “valley of the river Kent”
Kendell is given to both — 4,802 boys and 1,957 girls since 1880. See Kendell as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kendell is a spelling of Kendall, the Cumbrian market town on the river Kent — and the town gave its name to a green woolen cloth that Shakespeare's Falstaff lies about seeing in the dark.
How old is the name Kendell?
Kendell first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Kendell alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 4,400 people named Kendell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kendell most popular?
Kendell peaked in 1989, reaching #898 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 2,950 places below that high. See the whole 1989 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kent dalr to Kendell
The story of Kendell
Kendal was a wool town from the fourteenth century, and Kendal green was the cheap hard-wearing cloth of foresters and archers — Falstaff claims three men in Kendal green set upon him, which is the joke, since he could not have seen the color in the dark he describes. Families took the town's name, and it moved into American given names in the twentieth century for both sexes.
Meaning
valley of the river Kent
From the river name Kent, which is Brittonic and older than English, and Old Norse dalr, a valley; the Norse word is scattered across northern England by Viking settlement and gives Borrowdale, Patterdale and Kendal alike.
How the name formed
- Kent dalr
- Kendal
- Kendell
Related forms: Kendall · Kendal
Pronouncing Kendell
KEN-dul
Two syllables, first stressed. Every spelling of the name sounds the same.
Nicknames for Kendell
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
- 1919
- Most boys named
- 1989127 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #898reached in 1989
- Change vs 2023
- −20.0%28 in 2025, from 35
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, New York, Illinois.
Kendells among us
people named Kendell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Kendell
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 Michal 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: Michal climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Michal's path sketches the road Kendell is walking now.
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
Where Kendell is headed
Kendell should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Kendell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kendell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled place-name meaning with a Norse and Brittonic history behind it.
- Ken and Kenny are both complete short forms with their own records.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Kendall is the standard spelling and will be written for him constantly.
- It is now given more often to girls in America, so assumptions may run that way.
- Kendell, Kendall and Kendal are three live spellings of one name.
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What they receive
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Kendell
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
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 4,400 people named Kendell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kendell in 2025?
- Kendell ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kendell?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Kendell — 28 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.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kendell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kendell and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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