Kenneth
A Scottish name meaning “handsome or born of fire.”
Origin & meaning
Kenneth is a given name of Scottish origin, traditionally understood to mean handsome or born of fire. Names like this one traveled far from their roots — carried by scripture, saints, royalty, and popular culture — before settling into everyday American use. Its meaning has stayed remarkably steady even as its pronunciation and spelling shifted from one language to the next.
Popularity by decade
Given names rise and fall with each generation. Kenneth saw its strongest years around the 2010s, and its relative popularity across the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first is sketched below. Reading a name’s peak decade is often a useful clue to a person’s likely age.
- 1950s70
- 1960s40
- 1970s25
- 1980s37
- 1990s66
- 2000s91
- 2010s92
Relative index (0–100), shown for illustration. Peaks and dips reflect broad generational trends.
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