View source for Kenneth

{{other uses}}
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{{Infobox name
| name          = Kenneth
| image         = File:History-kenneth.jpg
| caption       = [[Kenneth McAlpin]]
| pronunciation = {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɛ|n|ɪ|θ}}
| gender        = Male
| meaning       = 'Handsome', 'fire-born'
| region        = 
| language      = English
| origin        = 
| alternative spelling = 
| nickname      = 
| shortform     = [[Ken (name)|Ken]]
| variant forms = 
| related names = Cainnech/Coinneach, [[Cináed (disambiguation)|Cináed]]
| name day      = 
| derived       = 
| popularity    = 
| footnotes     = 
}}

'''Kenneth''' is a [[given name]] of [[Gaelic language|Gaelic]] origin. The name is an [[Anglicised]] form of two entirely different Gaelic [[personal names]]: ''Cainnech'' and ''[[Cináed (disambiguation)|Cináed]]''. The modern [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a [[byname]] meaning "handsome", "comely".<ref>{{citation |last1=Hanks |first1=Patrick |last2=Hardcastle |authorlink1=Patrick Hanks |first2=Kate |last3=Hodges |first3=Flavia |title=A dictionary of first names |edition=2nd |series=Oxford Paperback Reference |year=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-861060-1 |pages=157–158, 343, 401 }}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The second part of the name ''Cinaed'' is derived either from the [[Celtic language|Celtic]] ''*aidhu'', meaning "fire",<ref>{{citation |last=Busse |first=Peter E. |contribution=Cinaed mac Ailpín |editor1-last=Koch |editor1-first=John T. |editor1-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia |year=2006 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=1-85109-445-8 |page=438 }}</ref> or else [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] ''jʉ:ð'' meaning "lord".<ref name="UGlas">{{cite web |last1=Rhys |first1=Guto |title=Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic |url=http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6285/7/2015RhysPhD.pdf |website=University of Glasgow }}</ref>

==People==
{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|
*[[Cainnech of Aghaboe]] (515/16–600), Ireland, Saint Canice or Saint Kenneth
*Saint [[Cenydd]] or Welsh Saint Keneth, (a separate individual from above)
*[[Kenneth (hairdresser)|Kenneth]] (1927–2013), born Kenneth Battelle, American celebrity hairdresser
*[[Kenneth MacAlpin]], Kenneth I of Scotland
*[[Kenneth II of Scotland]]
*[[Kenneth III of Scotland]]
*[[Kenneth J. Alford]] (1881–1945), English composer
*[[Kenneth Allen (murderer)]] (born 1942), American murderer
*[[Kenneth Allott]] (1912–1973), Anglo-Irish poet and academic
*[[Kenneth Alwyn]] (1925–2020), English conductor and composer
*[[Kenneth Amis]] (b. 1970), Bermudian tuba player
*[[Kenneth Anger]] (b. 1927), American avant-garde-film director
*[[Kenneth Arrow]] (1921–2017), American economist, [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics]] winner, 1972
*[[Kenneth Atchity]] (born 1944), American producer, author, columnist, and book reviewer
*[[Kenneth Bager]] (b. 1962), Danish musician and record producer
*[[Kenneth Bainbridge]] (1904–1996), American physicist
*[[Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking]] (b. 1934), UK Home Secretary
*[[Kenneth Barner]], American engineer
*[[Kenneth Beard]] (1927–2010), English Cathedral Organist
*[[Kenneth Benton]] (1909–1999), British MI6 officer and author
*[[Kenneth Bianchi]] (b. 1951), American serial killer, one of the Hillside Stranglers
*[[Kenneth Bigley]] (1942–2004), contractor, beheaded on television in Iraq
*[[Kenneth W. Bilby]] (1918–1997), American recipient of the Legion of Honour, executive vice president of RCA, and author
*[[Kenneth Blevins]], American drummer and percussionist
*[[Kenneth Bloomfield|Sir Kenneth Bloomfield]] (b. 1931), former Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service
*[[Kenneth E. Boulding]] (1910–1993), economist
*[[Kenneth Box]] (b. 1930), British track and field sprinter
*[[Sir Kenneth Branagh]] (b. 1960), Irish Shakespearean and film actor
*[[Kenneth Bressett]] (b. 1928), American numismatist
*[[Kenneth Bron]] (Kenny B) (b. 1961), Surinamese-born singer
*[[Kenneth Bruffee]] (1934–2019), Professor emeritus at Brooklyn College
*[[Kenneth Burke]] (1897–1993), American literary theorist and philosopher
*[[Kenneth Calman]] (b. 1941), English chief medical officer
*[[Kenneth Carpenter]] (b. 1949), paleontologist
*[[Kenneth G. Caulton]], inorganic chemist and professor
*[[Kenneth Chenault]] (b. 1951), former CEO of [[American Express]]
*[[Kenneth Arnold Chesney]] (b. 1968), American country singer
*[[Kenneth Church]] (1930–2020), Canadian jockey
*[[Kenneth Clark]] (1903–1983), English art historian
*[[Kenneth Clark (psychologist)]]
*[[Kenneth Clarke]] (b. 1940), Chancellor of the Exchequer
*[[Kenneth Cole (designer)|Kenneth Cole]] (b. 1954), American clothing designer
*[[Kenneth Colley]] (b. 1937), English actor
*[[Kenneth R. Conklin]], activist
*[[Kenneth Connor]] (1918–1993), British comedic actor
*[[Kenneth Cope]] (b. 1931), English actor
*[[Kenneth Cope (musician)]] (b. 1961), Mormon music composer
*[[Kenneth Darling]] (1909–1998), British general
*[[Kenneth C. Davis]], American historian, author
*[[Kenneth Dougall]] (b. 1993), Australian football player
*[[Kenneth Dover]] (1920–2010), British academic
*[[K. K. Downing|Kenneth "K. K." Downing]] (b. 1951), guitarist
*[[Kenneth J. Dunkley]] (b. 1939), American inventor
*[[Kenny Easterday|Kenneth Easterday]] (1973–2016), American man born with the rare disability, sacral agenesis
*[[Kenneth Edmonds]] ("Babyface") (b. 1959), American R&B singer
*[[Kenneth Erskine]] (b. 1963), serial killer
*[[Kenneth H. Fake]] (1895–1963), American politician
*[[Kenneth Farrow (American football)]] (b. 1993), American football player
*[[Kenneth Fearing]] (1902–1961), American poet
*[[Kenneth Feinberg]] (b. 1945), American attorney
*[[Kenneth Frampton]] (b. 1930), British architect and architecture critic
*[[Kenneth Gainwell]] (b. 1999), American football player
*[[John Kenneth Galbraith]] (1908–2006), Canadian-American economist
*[[Kenneth Gamble]] (b. 1943), songwriter and producer
*[[Kenneth Gasana]] (b. 1984), Rwandan basketball player
*[[Kenneth J. Gergen]] (b. 1935), American psychologist
*[[Kenneth R. Giddens]] (1908–1993), broadcaster
*[[Kenneth Gittens]] (born 1971), Virgin Islands politician
* Kenneth Gorelick ([[Kenny G]]) (b. 1956), smooth jazz professional saxophonist
*[[Kenneth Grahame]] (1859–1932), British author
*[[Kenneth C. Griffin]] (b. 1968), American entrepreneur and billionaire
*[[Kenneth E. Hagin]] (1917–2003), Pentecostal minister
*[[Kenneth L. Hale]] (1934–2001, American linguist
*[[Kenneth Halliwell]] (1926–1967), British actor, lover and murderer of Joe Orton
*[[Kenneth Ham]] (b. 1954), American astronaut
*[[Ken Holtzman|Kenneth "Ken" Holtzman]] (b. 1945), American Major League Baseball pitcher
*[[Ken Hon|Kenneth "Ken" Hon]], American geologist and head of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
*[[Kenneth Horne]] (1907–1969), English actor and comedian
*[[Kenneth Gardner Hughes]] (b. 1954), Canadian politician
*[[Kenneth Hutchings]] (1882–1916), English amateur cricketer
*[[Kenneth Irons]], comic book character in ''Witchblade''
*[[Kenneth E. Iverson]] (1920–2004), Canadian computer scientist, developed the APL programming language
*[[Kenneth Jamieson]], American politician
*[[Kenneth V. Jones]] (1924–2020), British composer
*[[Kenneth Katzner]] (1930–2003), American linguist
*[[Kenneth Kaunda]] (1924–2021), first President of Zambia
*[[Kenneth Keating]] (1900–1975), US Senator
*[[Kenneth Kedi]] (b. 1971), Marshallese politician
*[[Kenneth Kendall]] (1924–2012), British newsreader
*[[Kenneth Keith Kelley]] (1901–1991), American chemist
*[[Kenneth Kennedy (speed skater)]] (1913–1985), Australian Winter Olympian
*[[Jonathan King]] (b. 1944), born Kenneth George King, pop music mogul
*[[Kenneth Kitchen]] (b. 1932), British historian, Egyptologist
*[[Kenneth Klassen]] (b. 1951), Canadian sex tourist
*[[Kenneth Koch]] (1925–2002), American poet
*[[Kenneth Kraus]] (b. 1956), former United States Marine 
*[[Kenneth Law]] (born 1965), Canadian man who was charged with shipping sodium nitrite
*[[Kenneth Lawson]] (b. 1963), law professor and former lawyer
*[[Kenneth Lay]] (1942–2006), American businessman, former CEO of Enron
* [[Kenneth Little]] (1908–1991), English academic
*[[Ken Livingstone|Kenneth Livingstone]] (b. 1945), English politician
*[[Kenneth Ma]] (b. 1974), Hong Kong actor
*[[Kenneth Mackintosh]] (1875–1957), justice of the Washington Supreme Court
*[[Black Widow Murders#Kenneth McDavid|Kenneth McDavid]], American murder victim
*[[Kenneth McDuff]] (1946–1998), American serial killer
*[[Kenneth McKellar (politician)|Kenneth McKellar]] (1869–1957), American politician
*[[Kenneth McKellar (singer)|Kenneth McKellar]] (1927–2010), Scottish singer
*[[Murder of Kenneth Meers|Kenneth Meers]] (1960–1992), American murder victim
*[[Kenneth Barbour Montgomery]] (1897–1965), English World War I flying ace
*[[Kenneth More]] (1914–1982), English actor (''Genevieve'', ''Reach for the Sky'')
*[[Kenneth Murdock]] (born 1963), Canadian truck driver who was a hitman for the Musitano crime family of Hamilton, Ontario
*[[Kenneth Murray (disambiguation)]], multiple people 
*[[Kenneth O'Keefe]] (b. 1969), American-Irish-Palestinian activist
*[[Kenneth Roderick O'Neal]] (1908–1989), African-American architect
*[[Kenneth Odumegwu]] (born 2000), Nigerian-American football player
*[[Kenneth A. Oye]] (b. 1949), Associate Professor of Political Science and Engineering Systems, MIT
*[[Kenneth Parnell]] (1931–2008), American convicted sex offender, child rapist, and kidnapper
*[[Kenneth Paschal]] (born 1966), American politician
*[[Kenneth Perez]] (b. 1974), Danish footballer
*[[Kenneth Lee Pike]] (1912–2000), American linguist and anthropologist
*[[Kenneth Platts]] (1946–1989), British composer
*[[Kenneth Ramchand]] (b. 1939), Trinidad and Tobago academic and writer
*[[Kenneth Rexroth]] (1905–1982), American poet
*[[Kenneth Robinson (British politician)]] (1911–1996), British politician and broadcaster
*[[Kenneth Rose]] (1924–2014), royal biographer
*[[Kenneth Ross (screenwriter)|Kenneth Ross]], Scottish-American screenwriter of the films ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', etc.
*[[Kenneth G. Ross]] (b. 1941), Australian playwright, and screenwriter of the film ''Breaker Morant''
*[[Kenneth Schellenberger]] (b. 1948), Canadian politician
*[[Kenneth Searight]] (1883–1957), British writer and linguist
*[[Kenneth Shaw]] ("Buzz" Shaw) (b. 1939), American academic, college chancellor
*[[Kenneth Slessor]] (1901–1971), Australian poet
*[[Kenneth Starr]] (b. 1946), American lawyer, special investigator of U.S. President Bill Clinton
*[[Kenneth M. Taylor]] (1919–2006), American WWII pilot
*[[Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet]] (1923–2006), Canadian businessman, billionaire
*[[Kenneth Tigar]] (b. 1942), American actor
*[[Kenneth Tolon II]] (b. 1981), college football player
*[[Kenneth Tynan]] (1927–1980), English theatre critic and writer
*[[Kenneth Vance]], American politician
*[[Kenneth N. Waltz]] (1924–2013), American political scientist
*[[Kenneth Warren (politician)|Kenneth Warren]] (1926–2019), British Conservative Party politician
*[[Kenneth Welsh]] (1942–2022), Canadian actor
*[[Kenneth Williams]] (1926–1988), English comedian and actor
*[[Kenneth G. Wilson]] (1936–2013), American theoretical physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1982
}}

==Fictional characters==
*[[Kenneth Widmerpool]], in Anthony Powell's novel sequence ''A Dance to the Music of Time''
*[[Kenneth Parcell]], in the sitcom ''[[30 Rock]]''

==See also==
*[[Ken (given name)]]
*[[Kenny]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Gaelic names}}
{{given name}}

[[Category:English-language masculine given names]]
[[Category:English masculine given names]]
[[Category:Masculine given names]]
[[Category:Scottish masculine given names]]