Kendi
Feminine
Kendi is given to both — 644 girls and 24 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Kenya is named after a mountain, and the mountain's name is a mishearing. The Kikuyu called it Kirinyaga; a German missionary wrote it down in 1849 as Kenia, and the country took the spelling. A country's name preserves one nineteenth-century transcription error.
How old is the name Kendi?
Kendi first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Kendi alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 600 people named Kendi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kendi most popular?
Kendi peaked in 1979, reaching #4052 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 5,405 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Kendi
Johann Ludwig Krapf, a German missionary working for the Church Missionary Society, sighted the mountain in 1849 and recorded its name from Kamba speakers as Kiima kya Kenia or similar. The Kikuyu name is Kirinyaga, generally explained as the mountain of brightness or of the ostrich, from the black and white pattern of rock and snow, and Kirima kia Njahi in another form. The Kamba rendering that Krapf heard was closer to Kiinyaa, and what he wrote was Kenia. The spelling entered British usage, the protectorate took it in 1920, and the country has been Kenya ever since. Mount Kenya's official name is now given in both forms. It is a good example of how much of the modern political map rests on what one traveler thought he heard.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Kendi has no securely documented origin in American use. It is most likely a short form of Kendra or Kennedy. It is separately a genuine Meru name from central Kenya, where it is used for women, and Meru is a Bantu language spoken on the slopes of Mount Kenya. The record cannot distinguish the two. The peak is 1979.
Pronouncing Kendi
KEN-dee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kendi and Kendy are homophones. The Meru name is said the same way.
Nicknames for Kendi
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 200731 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4052reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%10 in 2025, from 10
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.
Kendi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kendy in English — spelling variant
- Kendra in English — related form
Kendis among us
people named Kendi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Kendi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kendi
- #9457
- Kendi on the 2025 chart
- #945
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kendi went to 10 girls in 2025, but Kendy is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 15, which makes it the 945th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,512 places above the chart.
- Kendi10
- Kendy5
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Kendi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Adrie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kendi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Adrie climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Adrie's path sketches the road Kendi is walking now.
Kendi 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
Kendi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kendi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to say.
- Ken works as a short form.
- It is a genuine name in Kenya as well as a short form in English.
- Two unrelated sources produce the same spelling.
- It reads as a short form of Kendra to most Americans.
- The 1979 peak dates it to a narrow window.
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What they receive
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Kendi
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kendis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Kendi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kendi?
- Kendi is the most-used spelling in US records — 10 of the 15 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kendy.
- How popular is the name Kendi in 2025?
- Kendi ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kendi?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Kendi — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kendi with classmates?
- Kendi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kendi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kendi? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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