# Kenan (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/kenan/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 4,675 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 4,645 / 30 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 773, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

* Borrowed from Hebrew קֵינָן (qēnå̄n). * Alternatively, possibly a variant of Keenan, from Irish Cianán, a diminutive of Cian.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 5 | 11,503 |
| 1991 | 9 | 8,961 |
| 2002 | 5 | 16,812 |
| 2007 | 6 | 16,548 |
| 2010 | 5 | 18,464 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 129 | 1,324 |
| 2012 | 103 | 1,549 |
| 2013 | 73 | 1,926 |
| 2014 | 110 | 1,480 |
| 2015 | 94 | 1,673 |
| 2016 | 106 | 1,559 |
| 2017 | 98 | 1,628 |
| 2018 | 135 | 1,337 |
| 2019 | 168 | 1,161 |
| 2020 | 135 | 1,330 |
| 2021 | 132 | 1,389 |
| 2022 | 168 | 1,194 |
| 2023 | 143 | 1,332 |
| 2024 | 187 | 1,134 |
| 2025 | 184 | 1,148 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 18 | 1,342 |
| 2012 | 25 | 1,086 |
| 2013 | 24 | 1,086 |
| 2014 | 30 | 959 |
| 2015 | 19 | 1,327 |
| 2016 | 19 | 1,363 |
| 2017 | 17 | 1,470 |
| 2018 | 26 | 1,061 |
| 2019 | 18 | 1,369 |
| 2020 | 26 | 1,051 |
| 2021 | 23 | 1,184 |
| 2022 | 34 | 901 |
| 2023 | 27 | 1,071 |
| 2024 | 37 | 857 |
| 2025 | 22 | 1,276 |

## People named Kenan

- Kenan Thompson, American comedian and actor (born 1978)
- Kenan Kodro, Bosnian-Spanish association football player
- Kenan Bajramović, Bosnian basketball player
- Kenan Hasagić, Bosnian footballer (born 1980)
- Kenan Malik, English writer, lecturer and broadcaster
- Kenan Toibibou, Comorian footballer
- Kenan Kerimov, Azerbaijani footballer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.