Humanverse

Kennedy vs Kennith

American parents have registered 101,120 Kennedys since 1880, against 10,565 Kenniths. Kennedy is still ahead, with 3,019 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Kennedy Kennith

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 117 years in which either name was published, Kennith for 78 years and Kennedy for 39 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Kennedy Kennith
Total US births 101,12010,565
Most in one year 4,688234
Babies in 2025 3,0196
Estimated living today 100,0006,500
Median age today 1360
Peak year 20151956
Best rank 58th girls494th boys
Rank in 2025 85th10,695th
First recorded 19121904
Girls / boys 93,663 / 7,4575 / 10,560

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 Kenniths alive today are over 60; half the Kennedys are over 13. That is 47 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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