Kenji
- Pronunciation
- [Ken-ji]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Intelligent Second Son; Strong And Vigorous
- Origin
- Japanese
About the Name Kenji
Kenji is a Japanese name whose meaning shifts with the characters chosen to write it, often glossed as "intelligent second son" or "strong and vigorous." Like many Japanese given names, its sense is built from kanji that combine the qualities a family hopes to express — wisdom, strength, and vitality — so the written form is as meaningful as the spoken one, allowing the same sound to carry several beautiful interpretations at once.
As a given name, Kenji pairs cleanly with English speech: two crisp syllables, a clear vowel rhythm, and a confident, modern sound. It travels well across cultures while keeping its distinct Japanese identity, which has helped it gain ground among parents drawn to internationally resonant names that feel both grounded and stylish. Its balance of strength and grace gives it broad appeal beyond its origin. Recorded variants include Kenjiro.
Kenji first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for boys in 2020 and rose quickly, peaking in 2022 at rank #755 with 336 births. It remains an active choice, ranking #827 in 2023 and #855 in 2024 with 283 births that year. Across its young run it already accounts for 1,441 recorded births — a sign of a name steadily finding its place in contemporary American naming. It continues to attract parents who want a name that feels global, modern, and meaningful all at once.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Kenji
US Popularity History (2020–2025)
Annual US births named Kenji by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2022 with 336 boys named Kenji (boy rank #755 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #944 for boys (249 US births). That's 189 places below its 2022 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Kenji Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Kenji the strongest states are Hawaii, Nevada, Minnesota.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | #227 | 36 |
| 2 | Nevada | #395 | 24 |
| 3 | Minnesota | #567 | 54 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | #634 | 36 |
| 5 | California | #646 | 405 |
| 6 | Washington | #704 | 68 |
| 7 | Florida | #723 | 133 |
| 8 | South Carolina | #738 | 22 |
| 9 | Wisconsin | #763 | 42 |
| 10 | Maryland | #794 | 28 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | #966 | 35 |
| 2 | Illinois | #914 | 28 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | #889 | 29 |
| 4 | New York | #861 | 65 |
| 5 | New Jersey | #835 | 32 |
| 6 | Virginia | #805 | 46 |
| 7 | North Carolina | #800 | 42 |
| 8 | Maryland | #794 | 28 |
| 9 | Wisconsin | #763 | 42 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #738 | 22 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Kenji in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenjiro | Second Son Who Sees With Insight | Male | Japanese |
Looking for names like Kenji?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Kenji to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Kenji against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).