Meaning not yet researched.
Kenji: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 249 in 2025. Its best rank was #750 in 1978.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #750 in 1978; #944 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Kenji in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#944 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1978, at #750.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Kenji: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 249 boys in 2025. Peak: #750 in 1978 · most boys in one year: 337 (2022).
In 2025, 249 US boys were named Kenji, making it the 944th most common boys’ name of the year, down 88 places from #856 in 2024. That is 35 fewer than the 284 boys named Kenji in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #750, reached in 1978. The most boys given the name in a single year was 337, in 2022. For comparison, it was #1,410 in 2015 and unranked in 1950.
Social Security card records list Kenji in 99 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1913 with 5 babies. In all, 5,657 US babies have been given the name, 0.6% of them girls and 99% boys. Its busiest decade was the 2020s, with 1,692 babies named Kenji.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 2,251 US boys were named Kenji; the busiest of those years was 2022, with 337. In 2025 that was about 1 in 6,860 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Kenji ranked highest in Hawaii in 2025, at #135 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Rarer spellings such as Kinji are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
No related spellings pass our data threshold.
Rare spellings summarised here: Kinji (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Kenji in the open dataset we use.
Kenji is listed as a nickname for Kendra.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 32 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 8 | #135 | — |
| Nevada | 6 | #483 | #346 |
| Wisconsin | 10 | #503 | — |
| California | 51 | #585 | #817 |
| Washington | 12 | #592 | #733 |
| Massachusetts | 7 | #664 | — |
| South Carolina | 6 | #703 | — |
| Missouri | 7 | #754 | — |
| Ohio | 11 | #776 | — |
| North Carolina | 10 | #846 | — |
| Florida | 15 | #937 | — |
| Georgia | 8 | #1,045 | — |
| Michigan | 6 | #1,054 | — |
| Illinois | 7 | #1,088 | — |
| New Jersey | 5 | #1,116 | — |
| New York | 10 | #1,171 | #1,298 |
| Pennsylvania | 6 | #1,173 | — |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,177 | — |
| Texas | 9 | #1,836 | #1,330 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 249 | #944 |
| 2024 | — | — | 284 | #856 |
| 2023 | — | — | 296 | #828 |
| 2022 | — | — | 337 | #754 |
| 2021 | — | — | 281 | #847 |
| 2020 | — | — | 245 | #913 |
| 2019 | — | — | 156 | #1,222 |
| 2018 | — | — | 141 | #1,296 |
| 2017 | — | — | 137 | #1,319 |
| 2016 | — | — | 125 | #1,409 |
| 2015 | — | — | 122 | #1,410 |
| 2014 | — | — | 96 | #1,620 |
| 2013 | — | — | 125 | #1,358 |
| 2012 | — | — | 124 | #1,364 |
| 2011 | — | — | 147 | #1,204 |
| 2010 | — | — | 119 | #1,403 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,486 | 159 | #1,150 |
| 2008 | — | — | 145 | #1,216 |
| 2007 | — | — | 108 | #1,486 |
| 2006 | — | — | 99 | #1,523 |
| 2005 | — | — | 75 | #1,765 |
| 2004 | — | — | 60 | #2,008 |
| 2003 | — | — | 60 | #1,951 |
| 2002 | 5 | #16,818 | 59 | #1,906 |
| 2001 | — | — | 72 | #1,640 |
| 2000 | — | — | 52 | #1,983 |
| 1999 | — | — | 56 | #1,790 |
| 1998 | — | — | 66 | #1,591 |
| 1997 | — | — | 44 | #2,044 |
| 1996 | — | — | 43 | #2,034 |
| 1995 | — | — | 55 | #1,661 |
| 1994 | — | — | 27 | #2,731 |
| 1993 | — | — | 30 | #2,483 |
| 1992 | — | — | 39 | #2,025 |
| 1991 | — | — | 32 | #2,268 |
| 1990 | — | — | 31 | #2,284 |
| 1989 | — | — | 27 | #2,444 |
| 1988 | — | — | 28 | #2,222 |
| 1987 | — | — | 22 | #2,519 |
| 1986 | — | — | 34 | #1,815 |
| 1985 | — | — | 30 | #1,947 |
| 1984 | — | — | 35 | #1,673 |
| 1983 | — | — | 28 | #1,930 |
| 1982 | — | — | 45 | #1,431 |
| 1981 | — | — | 40 | #1,531 |
| 1980 | 8 | #7,747 | 70 | #1,083 |
| 1979 | — | — | 84 | #971 |
| 1978 | 7 | #8,044 | 128 | #750 |
| 1977 | — | — | 57 | #1,167 |
| 1976 | — | — | 26 | #1,903 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,479 | 26 | #1,859 |
| 1974 | — | — | 25 | #1,863 |
| 1973 | — | — | 28 | #1,677 |
| 1972 | — | — | 21 | #1,999 |
| 1971 | — | — | 19 | #2,171 |
| 1970 | — | — | 16 | #2,354 |
| 1969 | — | — | 17 | #2,087 |
| 1968 | — | — | 17 | #1,994 |
| 1967 | — | — | 13 | #2,299 |
| 1966 | — | — | 11 | #2,548 |
| 1965 | — | — | 9 | #2,894 |
| 1964 | — | — | 8 | #3,161 |
| 1963 | — | — | 7 | #3,498 |
| 1962 | — | — | 7 | #3,477 |
| 1961 | — | — | 7 | #3,521 |
| 1960 | — | — | 8 | #3,214 |
| 1959 | — | — | 6 | #3,812 |
| 1958 | — | — | 7 | #3,424 |
| 1956 | — | — | 5 | #4,213 |
| 1944 | — | — | 8 | #2,748 |
| 1943 | — | — | 7 | #3,094 |
| 1940 | — | — | 8 | #2,766 |
| 1939 | — | — | 11 | #2,233 |
| 1938 | — | — | 9 | #2,564 |
| 1937 | — | — | 12 | #2,144 |
| 1936 | — | — | 6 | #3,360 |
| 1935 | — | — | 10 | #2,460 |
| 1934 | — | — | 9 | #2,662 |
| 1933 | — | — | 12 | #2,159 |
| 1932 | — | — | 6 | #3,578 |
| 1931 | — | — | 10 | #2,566 |
| 1930 | — | — | 11 | #2,531 |
| 1929 | — | — | 19 | #1,760 |
| 1928 | — | — | 17 | #1,935 |
| 1927 | — | — | 16 | #2,087 |
| 1926 | — | — | 16 | #2,031 |
| 1925 | — | — | 29 | #1,378 |
| 1924 | — | — | 20 | #1,810 |
| 1923 | — | — | 24 | #1,573 |
| 1922 | — | — | 30 | #1,359 |
| 1921 | — | — | 15 | #2,214 |
| 1920 | — | — | 27 | #1,444 |
| 1919 | — | — | 23 | #1,558 |
| 1918 | — | — | 17 | #1,952 |
| 1917 | — | — | 15 | #2,044 |
| 1916 | — | — | 10 | #2,643 |
| 1915 | — | — | 6 | #3,635 |
| 1914 | — | — | 9 | #2,367 |
| 1913 | — | — | 5 | #3,055 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).