Kendall is an Old English surname name from the town of Kendal in Cumbria, England, meaning "valley of the River Kent" from the Old Norse kent (river) + Old English dæl (valley). Ranked #1231 for boys with a peak in 1993 and over 35,000 total SSA uses, this is a name that has moved dramatically across the gender divide over the past thirty years.
From English Town to American First Name
Kendal (one L) was a market town in the English Lake District known historically for its woolen cloth. "Kendal Green" was a famous fabric. The surname that developed from the town traveled to America through English settlement and eventually crossed into given-name use, as English surname names consistently have since the 19th century. Old English place-names converted into given names follow a long American tradition that includes names like Whitney, Preston, and Ashley.
The Gender Flip Story
Kendall's 1993 peak for boys represents the final years of its primarily masculine usage in American records. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, it was used for both sexes but edged male. The 2000s saw it flip, and by the 2010s Kendall Jenner, the supermodel and media personality, had fully cemented its female identity in contemporary American culture. The 1990s capture Kendall at its masculine peak before the transition completed.
Kendall for Boys in 2024
Parents choosing Kendall for a boy today are doing so against its current dominant gender perception. That's not inherently a problem. Some families actively prefer names untethered from strict gender coding, but it should be a conscious choice. The name's Old English heritage and valley meaning give it genuine non-gendered foundations. Compare it to Marshall or Campbell for similarly-structured Old English surname names that have stayed more clearly masculine in current usage.