# Kennedy (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/kennedy/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 176,865 |
| US rank (2010) | 146 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,746 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.0% (171,636 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɛnədi/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Cannedy, Kennady |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Irish Ó Cinnéidigh (ceann (“head”) + éidigh (“ugly”)) or Scottish Gaelic Ceannaideach (ceann (“head”) + aideach (“ugly”). Compare Kenneth and Irish eitigh (“refuse, reject”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kennedy in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 81% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 14% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Kennedy in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Scotland and Kingdom of the Netherlands.

## People named Kennedy

- Robert F. Kennedy, American politician and lawyer (1925–1968)
- George Kennedy, American actor (1925–2016)
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services since 2025
- Caroline Kennedy, American author and diplomat (born 1957)
- Joshua Kennedy, Australian association football player
- John F. Kennedy Jr., American attorney and magazine publisher (1960–1999)
- Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., American businessman, politician and diplomat (1888–1969)
- Arthur Kennedy, American actor (1914–1990)
- Anthony Kennedy, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 to 2018
- Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer (born 1953)
- Rose Kennedy, American philanthropist and Kennedy family matriarch (1890–1995)
- Jamie Kennedy, American actor and comedian

and 82 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Kennett, Kenneth, Kent, Knott, Knuth, Kondo, Kind, Kindt, Kawamoto, Kamath, Kunde, Konda.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.