Kento

Meaning of Kento

Kento is a Japanese masculine given name composed of the morphemes ken (e.g., 健 “health,” 賢 “wisdom”) and to (e.g., 人 “person,” 斗 “measurement”), conferring semantic nuances of vitality, strength and intellect; its phonological form in standard Japanese is /kɛntoʊ/, adhering to a strict CV.CV syllabic structure. Empirical data from the United States Social Security Administration indicate that, since its first recorded appearance in 1984 at rank 689 with six births, Kento’s annual occurrences have oscillated between single‐digit and low‐double‐digit figures, yielding a steady placement within the 700–900 ranking band—most recently, 11 newborns at rank 913 in 2024. This longitudinal profile reflects a modest but sustained integration into Anglo‐American naming patterns, illustrating the technical interplay of phonotactic simplicity and semantic malleability via kanji selection. As such, Kento offers a compelling case study in onomastic diffusion, embodying both cultural specificity and the analytical precision favored in cross‐cultural name adoption.

Pronunciation

Japanese

• Pronunced as KEN-toh (/kɛntoʊ/)

• Kenton
• Kendrick
• Kent
• Kentaro
• Kenzo
• Kenta
• Kentin