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Kennedy vs Kennet

American parents have registered 101,120 Kennedys since 1880, against 214 Kennets. Kennedy is still ahead, with 3,019 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kennedy against Kennet, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kennedy Kennet

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 108 years in which either name was published, Kennedy for 107 years and Kennet for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Kennedy Kennet
Total US births 101,120214
Most in one year 4,68813
Babies in 2025 3,019under 5
Estimated living today 100,000180
Median age today 1338
Peak year 20151959
Best rank 58th girls2,295th boys
Rank in 2025 85thunranked
First recorded 19121938
Girls / boys 93,663 / 7,4570 / 214

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 Kennets alive today are over 38; half the Kennedys are over 13. That is 25 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: Kennedy and Kennet.