Kendrick
Masculine · “royal power' or 'chief hero”
Kendrick is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 33,557 boys against 385 girls since 1880.
Kendrick began as a surname and arrived at the front of the name by more than one road — an Old English royal compound in England, a Welsh one in Wales, and a Gaelic patronymic in Scotland. All three collapsed into the same eight letters, which is why it reads instantly to English speakers who have never met one. It has been in steady American use across several generations, spoken with a firm first syllable and a clipped finish.
How old is the name Kendrick?
Kendrick first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Kendrick alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 32,000 people named Kendrick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kendrick most popular?
Kendrick peaked in 2013, reaching #318 nationally. Today it ranks #535, 217 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Kendrick appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Cyneric to Kendrick
The story of Kendrick
Kendrick is one of those names that reached us backwards: it was a family name for centuries before anyone thought to give it to a baby as a first name. Behind the surname sit the Old English Cyneric and the Welsh Cynwrig, both compounds built from words for rulership and pre-eminence, worn down over the medieval period into Kenrick and then Kendrick with the intrusive d that English so often slips into such clusters. In Scotland the same spelling arrived by a different path, as an anglicization of Mac Eanraig, 'son of Henry'. The move to a given name happened in the United States, part of the long American habit of promoting surnames to the front, and it has stayed in use here ever since.
Meaningscholars disagree
'royal power' or 'chief hero', depending on which root
Two serious readings compete, because two separate old names produced the same surname. From Old English Cyneric — cyne 'royal' plus ric 'power'. From Welsh Cynwrig — cyn 'chief, foremost' plus a second element usually read as 'hero' or 'man'. A third, quite different route exists in Scotland, where Kendrick comes from Mac Eanraig, 'son of Henry', and carries no 'royal power' sense at all.
How the name formed
- Cyneric
- Cynwrig
- Kenrick
- Kendrick
Related forms: Cynwrig · Kenrick · Mac Eanraig · Kendric · Kendrik
Pronouncing Kendrick
KEN-drik
Stress on the first syllable. Two syllables, no silent letters, and the same in British and American English. English speakers read it right on the first try.
Nicknames for Kendrick
High
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 20131,047 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #318reached in 2013
- Change vs 2023
- −11.7%559 in 2025, from 633
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.
Kendrick in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cynwrig in Welsh — related form
- Kenrick in English — related form
- Mac Eanraig in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Kendric in English — spelling variant
- Kendrik in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kendricks among us
people named Kendrick are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,056 born in 2025 was named Kendrick
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 Brendon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kendrick's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Brendon climbed just as high around 1998, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Brendon's path sketches the road Kendrick is walking now.
Kendrick 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 Kendrick is headed
Kendrick should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Kendrick beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kendrick in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds from parts English speakers already know — Ken and the -rick ending — so it rarely needs repeating.
- Comes with ready-made short forms, Ken and Kenny, both of which have stood alone as names for a very long time.
- A long unbroken record in American use, so it is familiar without being crowded — a Kendrick will likely be the only one in the class.
- Reaches back through three separate old naming traditions: Old English, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.
- It is closely tied in many people's minds to one very famous contemporary bearer, the rapper Kendrick Lamar. That association is likely to be the first thing said about the name for years to come — a plus for some families, a distraction for others.
- Kenrick, Kendric and Kendrix all exist, so expect the occasional dropped d or swapped ending in writing, even if the pronunciation never causes trouble.
- The natural short form, Ken, sits with an older generation and has its own separate baggage from the Barbie films. Kenny travels more easily with a child.
- The name is easing back from its high point rather than climbing, which means fewer classmates sharing it and no strong stamp of a single birth year.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kendrick
Masculine · #535 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kendricks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 32,000 people named Kendrick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kendrick in 2025?
- Kendrick ranks #535 among US boy names in 2025, with 559 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kendrick?
- About 1 in every 3,056 US boys born in 2025 was named Kendrick — 559 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kendrick with classmates?
- Kendrick will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kendrick
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eiden#536 · Zachariah#536 · Bruce#536 · Scott#534 · Rio#532 · Troy#532 · Kaison#539 · Tyson#531
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kendrick? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kendrick and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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