Kenneth
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from English. From English Kenneth. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1898.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Kenneth (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Kenneth has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2007. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | – |
| 2005 | – |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2007 | 4 |
| 2008 | 2 |
| 2009 | – |
| 2010 | – |
| 2011 | 2 |
| 2012 | – |
| 2013 | – |
| 2014 | – |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2016 | – |
| 2017 | – |
| 2018 | – |
| 2019 | – |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 3 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 13,458 |
| 2000 | 13,526 |
| 2001 | 13,595 |
| 2002 | 13,631 |
| 2003 | 13,789 |
| 2004 | 13,833 |
| 2005 | 13,725 |
| 2006 | 13,768 |
| 2007 | 13,774 |
| 2008 | 13,895 |
| 2009 | 13,845 |
| 2010 | 13,786 |
| 2011 | 13,710 |
| 2012 | 13,620 |
| 2013 | 13,548 |
| 2014 | 13,451 |
| 2015 | 13,346 |
| 2016 | 13,226 |
| 2017 | 13,133 |
| 2018 | 12,994 |
| 2019 | 12,938 |
| 2020 | 12,812 |
Kenneth in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Kenneth.Hi! My name is Kenneth.
- Kenneth har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Kenneth has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Kenneths mamma är lärare.Kenneth's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Kenneths mamma is Kenneth's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Kenneth
How do you pronounce Kenneth in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Kenneth from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Kenneth mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from English. From English Kenneth. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1898.
How popular is Kenneth in Sweden?
3 babies were named Kenneth in 2022. In 2020, 12,812 people in Sweden had Kenneth as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2007 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.