Kenna
Feminine · “Feminine form of Kenneth”
Kenna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 13,536 girls against 245 boys since 1880.
Kenna comes out of Scotland as the feminine counterpart of Kenneth, a name carried by early medieval Gaelic kings. It is two beats long, both of them easy, and it sits inside a family of names American ears already know well — Kenneth, Kennedy, McKenna — which is why it tends to be understood on first hearing and still met as something new.
How old is the name Kenna?
Kenna first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Kenna alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 13,000 people named Kenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kenna most popular?
Kenna peaked in 2016, reaching #658 nationally. Today it ranks #759, 101 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cináed to Kenna
The story of Kenna
The Ken- in Kenna goes back to two separate Gaelic names, Cináed and Coinneach, both of which came into English as Kenneth; Cináed was borne by the ninth-century king usually counted the first king of Scots. Kenna arose in Scotland as the feminine of that name, alongside the rarer Kenina. A second road reaches the same sound from Ireland: the surname Mac Cionaodha, anglicized McKenna, which American parents took up as a first name for daughters, and Kenna works as its natural short form. So one spelling, two lineages — a Scottish given name and an Irish surname — arriving at the same two syllables.
Meaningscholars disagree
Feminine form of Kenneth — either "born of fire" or "handsome, comely"
Kenneth is the anglicization of two unrelated Gaelic names that Scots English collapsed into one: Cináed, read as "born of fire", and Coinneach, read as "handsome" or "comely". Kenna inherits both, and neither reading has pushed the other out.
How the name formed
- Cináed
- Kenneth
- Kenna
Related forms: Kenneth · Coinneach · Cionaodh · Kenina · McKenna
Pronouncing Kenna
KEN-uh
Stress on the first syllable; the ending is a plain "uh". It matches the opening beats of Kennedy. Rarely mispronounced once seen in writing.
Nicknames for Kenna
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
- 1924
- Most girls named
- 2019436 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #658reached in 2016
- Change vs 2023
- −5.3%357 in 2025, from 377
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.
Kenna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kenneth in English — related form
- Coinneach in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Cionaodh in Irish — related form
- Kenina in Scots — related form
- McKenna in English (Irish surname) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kennas among us
people named Kenna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,502 born in 2025 was named Kenna
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 Oralia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kenna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Oralia climbed just as high around 1945, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Oralia's path sketches the road Kenna is walking now.
Kenna 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 Kenna is headed
Kenna 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.
Kenna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kenna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spells itself — almost every English speaker reads KEN-uh correctly at first sight, with no silent letters or optional vowels.
- Two syllables with clear front-loaded stress, which sits well against both short and long surnames.
- Belongs to a recognizable Ken- group — Kenneth, Kennedy, McKenna — so it lands as familiar rather than invented.
- Documented Scottish and Irish roots, with Kenneth's line reaching back to early medieval Gaelic.
- In continuous American use across generations without ever becoming crowded.
- People will often assume it is short for McKenna, or mishear it as Jenna or Kendra. Expect to repeat it occasionally, and to spell it over the phone.
- The ready-made short forms, Ken and Kenny, read as masculine names in English. In practice Kenna tends to stay whole, which suits some families and frustrates others.
- It is uncommon enough that most people will meet the name for the first time in your daughter. That means no inherited associations to manage — and no instant recognition either.
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What they receive
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Kenna
Feminine · #759 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kennas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Kenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kenna in 2025?
- Kenna ranks #759 among US girl names in 2025, with 357 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kenna?
- About 1 in every 4,502 US girls born in 2025 was named Kenna — 357 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kenna with classmates?
- Kenna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kenna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marilyn#760 · Neriah#760 · Xyla#760 · Charley#760 · Soleil#756 · Lettie#756 · Kaeli#756 · Rynlee#755
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kenna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kenna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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