How common is the surname Kendall?

31,209 people in the United States had the surname Kendall in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,893 Americans. It ranked 1,126th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Kendall?

Henry Way Kendall, American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, followed by Edward Calvin Kendall.

Where is the surname Kendall most common?

Wikidata records people named Kendall in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Kendall?

Kendall is /ˈkɛndəl/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Kendall getting more or less common?

More common. 29,524 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 31,209 in 2010, up 5.7%.

Is Kendall also a first name?

Yes. Kendall is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Kendall

A Norse place surname, carried by 31,209 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈkɛndəl/ 2 syllables Soundex K534 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kendall is more common than 99.3% of them.

Origin

Norse origin

From the placename Kendal in Cumbria, "valley of the river Kent", and Kendale in Humberside, from Old Norse kelda (“spring”) + dalr (“valley”).

Kendall is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 126 Norse surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 31,209 people named Kendall in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,893 Americans. That is up 5.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 29,524.

#1,126

rank among US surnames

31,209

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+5.7%

change since 2000 (was #1,082)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,117	Odell	31,349	9,849
#1,118	Daly	31,330	9,855
#1,119	Winter	31,310	9,861
#1,120	Abraham	31,303	9,863
#1,121	Baez	31,298	9,865
#1,122	Rodrigues	31,280	9,870
#1,123	Wooten	31,249	9,880

Who is named Kendall

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

86% of people named Kendall identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.9% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 86%
Black (not Hispanic) 8.9%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 2.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Kendalls

13 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Henry Way Kendall
American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1926–1999
Edward Calvin Kendall
American chemist (1886-1972)
Suzy Kendall
British actress, born 1937
Cy Kendall
American actor (1898-1953)
Amos Kendall
American politician (1789–1869)
Henry Kendall
Australian author and bush poet (1839-1882)
Donald M. Kendall
American businessman (1921–2020)
David Kendall
American film director, 1957–2026
Jason Kendall
American baseball player, born 1974
Charles West Kendall
American politician (1828-1914)
Nathan E. Kendall
American politician (1868-1936)
Luke Kendall
Australian basketball player (born 1981)

Notable Kendalls come mostly from the United States (9), Australia (3) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Kendal
Kendell
Kindall

Surnames that sound like Kendall

Khandelwal

Kendall has the Soundex code K534, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K534.

Other Norse surnames

All 126 Norse surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Kendall come from?: From the placename Kendal in Cumbria, "valley of the river Kent", and Kendale in Humberside, from Old Norse kelda (“spring”) + dalr (“valley”).
How common is the surname Kendall?: 31,209 people in the United States had the surname Kendall in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,893 Americans. It ranked 1,126th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Kendall?: In the 2010 Census, 86% of people named Kendall identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.9% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Kendall?: Henry Way Kendall, American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, followed by Edward Calvin Kendall.
Where is the surname Kendall most common?: Wikidata records people named Kendall in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Kendall?: Kendall is /ˈkɛndəl/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Kendall?: Kendall is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Kendall getting more or less common?: More common. 29,524 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 31,209 in 2010, up 5.7%.
What are other spellings of Kendall?: Kendal, Kendell and Kindall.
Is Kendall also a first name?: Yes. Kendall is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.