Kensington
Feminine · “the farmstead of Cynesige's people”
Kensington is given to both — 2,950 girls and 162 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Kensington is a piece of west London, and before it was that it was a farm belonging to a man called Cynesige. English place-names are full of forgotten landowners, and this is one of the grander examples of a very ordinary pattern.
How old is the name Kensington?
Kensington first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Kensington is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,900 people named Kensington are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kensington most popular?
Kensington peaked in 2015, reaching #972 nationally. Today it ranks #2822, 1,850 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cynesige to Kensington
The story of Kensington
The manor became a village, the village was swallowed by London, and by the nineteenth century Kensington was one of the most fashionable districts in the city — palace, gardens, museums. That is what the name carries now, and it is what American parents are generally hearing. Its use as a first name is recent and belongs to a group of long, grand English place-names — Kensington, Everleigh, Wellington, Bristol — taken up in the United States for exactly the associations they bring. The man behind it has been gone for a thousand years and his farm is under a museum.
Meaning
the farmstead of Cynesige's people
Old English Cynesige, a personal name meaning something like 'royal victory', with -inga-, marking the people belonging to him, and tun, a farmstead or enclosure. The Domesday Book records it as Chenesitone. The pattern — personal name, -ing-, -ton — produced hundreds of English place-names, and the reading here is documented rather than guessed.
How the name formed
- Cynesige
- Chenesitone
- Kensington
Pronouncing Kensington
KEN-zing-tun
Three syllables, stress on the first, the s voiced as a z in ordinary speech. There is nothing ambiguous in the sound; the name is long rather than difficult.
Nicknames for Kensington
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
- 1997
- Most girls named
- 2015278 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #972reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −22.1%60 in 2025, from 77
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.
Kensington in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kensingtons among us
people named Kensington are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 26,788 born in 2025 was named Kensington
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 Lasonya test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kensington's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lasonya climbed just as high around 1972, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lasonya's path sketches the road Kensington is walking now.
Kensington 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 Kensington is headed
Kensington is easing off slowly — about 27% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Kensington beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kensington in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kenzie is a ready and very well established short form, which a long name badly needs.
- A documented English place-name with a traceable Domesday entry behind it.
- Three syllables give it real formality, with an easy everyday form underneath.
- Three syllables mean it will almost always be shortened to Kenzie in practice.
- It carries a strong flavor of London wealth, which is either the appeal or the difficulty.
- Kensington, Kensingtyn and Kensingten all appear in American records, and the spelling gets asked for.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kensington to the vote.
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What they receive
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Kensington
Feminine · #2822 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kensingtons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,900 people named Kensington are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kensington in 2025?
- Kensington ranks #2822 among US girl names in 2025, with 60 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kensington?
- About 1 in every 26,788 US girls born in 2025 was named Kensington — 60 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kensington with classmates?
- Kensington will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kensington
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Haniya#2822 · Roxanna#2822 · Lya#2822 · Maybelle#2822 · Hayat#2822 · Seven#2822 · Livie#2822 · Kaziah#2822
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kensington? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kensington and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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