The name 'Kendra'

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 179375

---  "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at ...> wrote:
>
> Which I think is a very pretty name, but I wonder when it was first
> used by Muggles. I suspect it was not used by Muggles until after
> Albus's Muggle-born mother was born and named Kendra. 
> 
> During my search, I found sites that told me that the origin of this
> name is Welsh, Gaelic, Norse, and Anglo-Saxon. I suspect they don't
> actually know.
> 
> ...

bboyminn:

Kendra is also a Scottish Clan name. As a first name it is the
female version of Kendrick.

Here is a note on the Scottish Clan aspect -

From: http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=Kendra

In the Middle ages, spelling and translation were not yet 
regulated by any general rules. spelling variations in names 
were common even among members of one family unit. Kendra has
appeared Hendry, Hendrie, MacHendry, MacHendrick, MacKendrick
and many more.

First found in Fifeshire where they were seated from very 
ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and
the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.


So, the basic name is certainly well over 1,000 years old. 

I don't know about the Scottish, but the Nordics has a 
system of interchanging first, last, and middle names. So,
roughly the son of John Arthur Nelson became Arthur Nels
Johnson. My point is that at some point Kendra and Kendrick
went from being surnames to being first names.

As far has the Harry Potter books, while we do see a lot
of common names (Fred, Harry, Arther, Ron), we also see a lot
of unusual names (Luna, Mundungus, Albus, Aberforth, Rubeus). 
In that light, Kendra is not such an unusual name; not 
especially common, but no all that odd either.

According to the USA Social Security record of new Baby names,
Kendra currently enjoys moderate popularity ranking at 243 
most common name on a falling trend. In the 40's and 50's
the name ranked between 500 and 1000. In the last 100 years,
the name peaked in 1988 being the 80th most common name.

I tried to go back 500 years (and 150 yrs), but the SS site
wouldn't give me statistics prior to 1946. 

For what it's worth.

steve/bboyminn