# Kent (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/kent/  
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 Old English derived from the place name.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Latin |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 44,325 |
| US rank (2010) | 778 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 6,965 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.1% (42,597 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /kɛnt/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Inherited from Middle English Kent, from Old English Cent, from Latin Cantium, from Brythonic *Cantio (compare Old Irish céite (“gathering, folkmoot, hillock”)), from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kent 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

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

## People named Kent

- Rockwell Kent, American artist (1882-1971)
- Stacey Kent, American recording artist; singer
- Joe Kent, American former federal intelligence official, political candidate, army officer
- Hlothhere of Kent, 7th-century English monarch
- Charles Kent, British-American actor and film director (1852-1923)
- Jennifer Kent, Australian actor, writer and director
- Rolfe Kent, British composer
- James Kent, American lawyer and legal scholar (1763-1847)
- Jeff Kent, American baseball player (born 1968)
- Joseph Kent, American politician (1779-1837)
- Sarah Kent, Australian cyclist
- Arnold Kent, American actor (1899-1928)

and 8 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Kennett, Kenneth, Kennedy, 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.