Kene
Kene is a given name and surname of various origins. Notable people with this name include:Kene Eze, American soccer player Kene Holliday, American actor Kéné Ndoye, Senegalese athlete Kene Nwangwu, American football player Arinze Kene, British actor and playwright John Kene, British politician
Meaning & Origin of Kene
What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.
Kene is a given name and surname of various origins. Notable people with this name include:Kene Eze, American soccer player Kene Holliday, American actor Kéné Ndoye, Senegalese athlete Kene Nwangwu, American football player Arinze Kene, British actor and playwright John Kene, British politician
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). Read more →
The Story of Kene
As a girl name
Kene first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a girl name in 1999, with 5 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 1999: 5 births, good for #14,411 nationwide. Kene last appeared in the published SSA data in 1999, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 5 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1990s to the 2020s.
As a boy name
Kene first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a boy name in 1978, with 12 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 1978: 12 births, good for #3,215 nationwide. About 61% of every Kene on record arrived during the 1970s, its defining decade. Kene last appeared in the published SSA data in 2004, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 28 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1970s to the 2020s.
Popularity Over Time
Popularity by State
Names that sound like Kene
Phonetically similar names — useful when Kene is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.
Frequently Asked Questions about Kene
What does the name Kene mean?
How popular is Kene in 2026?
When was Kene most popular?
Is Kene a unisex name?
What names go well with Kene?
About the name Kene
Kene is a unisex baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1978 and has accumulated 28 births in the dataset. Kene's peak popularity came in 1978 when it ranked #3,215. Use the chart and map above to compare Kene's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.
Continue exploring
- Top names of 1978 →
- Names of the 1970s →
- Names starting with "K" →
- Browse all boy names →
- Top names of 2026 →
- Browse unisex names →
Data sources
- Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
- Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
- Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
- Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
- Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .
Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.