Humanverse

Kendra vs Kenlyn

American parents have registered 98,788 Kendras since 1880, against 297 Kenlyns. Kendra is still ahead, with 320 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kendra against Kenlyn, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kendra Kenlyn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 90 years in which either name was published, Kendra for 88 years and Kenlyn for 2 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Kendra Kenlyn
Total US births 98,788297
Most in one year 3,86319
Babies in 2025 3206
Estimated living today 95,000270
Median age today 3513
Peak year 19872014
Best rank 77th girls7,636th girls
Rank in 2025 849thunranked
First recorded 19361937
Girls / boys 98,438 / 350255 / 42

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kendras alive today are over 35; half the Kenlyns are over 13. That is 22 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kendra and Kenlyn.