Ken

Where Ken comes from

Wiktionary's etymology listing comes up empty for Ken.

  • 1 syllable
Ken through the years
  1. 1900
    First appearance
    #1,050 among boys with 7 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1935
    Ken Kesey born
    American novelist
  3. 1959
    Ken Watanabe born
    Japanese actor
  4. 1960
    Peak, #177
    1,775 babies named Ken, the most in any year.
  5. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #252.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the male given name Kenneth.
Namesakes
  • Ken Kesey · American novelist, 1935–2001
  • Ken Watanabe · Japanese actor, born 1959
  • Ken Naganuma · Japanese association football player and manager, 1930–2008
  • Ken Livingstone · English politician (born 1945); Mayor of London from 2000 until 2008, born 1945
  • Ken Noritake · Japanese association football player, 1922–1994

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.