Kendra
Meaning of Kendra
Kendra, pronounced KEN-druh, is a modern Anglo-American coinage that pulls together several venerable strands: some etymologists point to the Old Welsh Cynwrig (“great champion”), others hear echoes of the Anglo-Saxon prefix cyne (“royal”), and still others see a streamlined feminine offshoot of Kenneth or Kendrick. Whatever its academic lineage, the name projects a crisp two-syllable confidence that helped it vault from near obscurity in the 1960s to a brief flirtation with the U.S. Top 100 by the late 1980s, before settling into today’s comfortable mid-rank territory. Cultural references range from entrepreneur Kendra Scott’s jewelry empire to reality-TV personality Kendra Wilkinson and the disciplined Slayer of early Buffy lore, lending the name both boardroom polish and pop-culture energy. With its clean consonants, understated strength, and quietly regal undertone, Kendra offers parents a familiar yet distinct choice—neither trendy nor antique, simply poised.
Pronunciation
American English
- Pronunced as KEN-druh (/ˈkɛn.drə/)
British English
- Pronunced as KEN-drə (/ˈkɛn.drə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Kendra
| Kendra Leigh Wilkinson is an American television personality who rose to fame on the reality series "The Girls Next Door" and later starred in her own shows. |
| Kendra Harrison, an American hurdler, broke the 28-year-old world record in the women's 100m hurdles with a time of 12.20 seconds in 2016. |
| Kendra Scott is an American fashion designer who founded and leads her namesake company as executive chairwoman and designer. |
| Kendra Todd made history as the first female and youngest winner of NBC's The Apprentice in 2005. |
| Kendra Horn served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 5th district from 2019 to 2021 and is the last Democrat from Oklahoma in Congress as of 2025. |
| Canadian curler Kendra Lilly from Sudbury, Ontario, is a three-time Northern Ontario junior champion skip and former skip of Laurentian University's women's curling team. |
| Kendra Kassebaum is an American actress and singer best known for playing Glinda in the Broadway and touring productions of Wicked. |
| Kendra Lee Daly is an oceanographer and University of South Florida professor renowned for her research on zooplankton in low-oxygen ocean regions. |
| Kendra Coulter is a Canadian scholar and professor at Huron University College, known for her influential books on retail, animal work, and animal protection, and she is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. |
| Kendra Norman-Bellamy - Kendra Norman is an African-American Christian author acclaimed for her novels with positive male leads and romantic, suspenseful plots. |
| Kendra Cocksedge is a celebrated New Zealand rugby legend who won three World Cups with the Black Ferns and earned the 2018 Player of the Year award. |
| Kendra Pierre-Louis is an American climate reporter who recently worked on the Gimlet Media podcast How to Save a Planet. |
| Kendra Morris is an American soul singer-songwriter from St. Petersburg, Florida, now based in New York City. |
| Kendra Erika is an American musician. |
| Kendra Janelle Ross is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music business executive, and community organizer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, born in Youngstown, Ohio. |
