# Kenneth

Kenneth is a given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: Cainnech and Cináed. The modern Gaelic form of Cainnech is Coinneach; the name was derived from a byname meaning "handsome", "comely".

## Etymology

The second part of the name Cinaed is derived either from the Celtic *aidhu, meaning "fire", or else Brittonic jʉ:ð meaning "lord".

## People

* Cainnech of Aghaboe (515/16–600), Ireland, Saint Canice or Saint Kenneth
* Saint Cenydd or Welsh Saint Keneth, (a separate individual from above)
* 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 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
* 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 (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
* Kenneth "K. K." Downing (b. 1951), guitarist
* Kenneth J. Dunkley (b. 1939), American inventor
* 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
* Kenneth "Ken" Holtzman (b. 1945), American Major League Baseball pitcher
* 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 Lawson (b. 1963), law professor and former lawyer
* Kenneth Lay (1942–2006), American businessman, former CEO of Enron
* Kenneth Livingstone (b. 1945), English politician
* Kenneth Ma (b. 1974), Hong Kong actor
* Kenneth McDavid, American murder victim
* Kenneth McDuff (1946–1998), American serial killer
* Kenneth McKellar (1869–1957), American politician
* Kenneth McKellar (1927–2010), Scottish singer
* 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, 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 (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, character in Anthony Powell's novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time
* Kenneth Parcell from 30 Rock

## Places

In the United States:
* Kenneth, Minnesota
* Kenneth City, Florida
In Scotland:
* Inch Kenneth, an island off the west coast of the Isle of Mull

## Other

* "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", a song by R.E.M.
* Hurricane Kenneth
* Cyclone Kenneth