# Kenna (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/kenna/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Meaning | “descendant of cionaodh” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɛnə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 13,781 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 245 / 13,536 (98% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 127, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

* As a Scottish surname, shortened from McKenna. * As a Manx and Irish surname, from Ó Cionaodha /Ó Cionaoith (“descendant of Cionaodh”), a name usually Anglicized as Kenneth.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 316 | 836 |
| 2012 | 299 | 886 |
| 2013 | 253 | 992 |
| 2014 | 329 | 842 |
| 2015 | 422 | 677 |
| 2016 | 444 | 661 |
| 2017 | 404 | 712 |
| 2018 | 426 | 686 |
| 2019 | 436 | 664 |
| 2020 | 416 | 684 |
| 2021 | 406 | 709 |
| 2022 | 430 | 679 |
| 2023 | 377 | 747 |
| 2024 | 389 | 726 |
| 2025 | 357 | 759 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 9 | 5,902 |
| 1998 | 5 | 10,504 |
| 2007 | 5 | 13,461 |
| 2010 | 9 | 8,476 |
| 2011 | 7 | 10,243 |
| 2012 | 10 | 7,861 |
| 2013 | 6 | 11,496 |
| 2015 | 7 | 10,130 |
| 2016 | 11 | 7,394 |
| 2018 | 8 | 9,254 |
| 2020 | 9 | 8,417 |
| 2021 | 8 | 9,282 |
| 2022 | 7 | 10,356 |
| 2023 | 6 | 11,580 |
| 2025 | 5 | 13,015 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4 | 4,764 |
| 2012 | 6 | 3,681 |
| 2013 | 4 | 4,739 |
| 2014 | 4 | 4,684 |
| 2015 | 5 | 4,103 |
| 2016 | 6 | 3,609 |
| 2017 | 5 | 4,063 |
| 2018 | 8 | 2,901 |
| 2019 | 4 | 4,686 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4,535 |
| 2021 | 9 | 2,711 |
| 2022 | 4 | 4,645 |
| 2023 | 6 | 3,598 |
| 2024 | 3 | 5,891 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5,927 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 4 | 3,009 |
| 2006 | 3 | 4,052 |

## People named Kenna

- Kenna James, American pornographic actress

## 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.