| Kenta | Ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Healthy and big | dragon |
| Origin | Japanese | japanese |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | KEN-tah | ryoo |
| Syllables | 2 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1973 | 1985 |
| Peak year | 1977 (48) | 2012 (130) |
| In 2025 | 7 | 59 |
| Trend | Declining | Steady |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Kenta | Ryu |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 29 | 483 |
| 2010s | 98 | 741 |
| 2000s | 155 | 372 |
| 1990s | 216 | 77 |
| 1980s | 120 | 12 |
| 1970s | 93 | 0 |
Kenta joins the kanji for “healthy, strong” with “thick” or “big.”
From Japanese 龍 / 竜 (ryuu) 'dragon'. Hedge: more often a dragon-bearing element within compound names than a standalone given name, and the same sound is written with other kanji meaning 'noble/prosperous' (隆), 'flow' (流) or 'lapis lazuli' (琉); the dragon meaning applies to the 龍/竜 spelling. Romanized Ryu or Ryuu (the macron/double-u marks a long vowel).
Ryu is more popular than Kenta today: about 59 US babies were given the name Ryu in 2025, compared with 7 named Kenta.
Kenta means Healthy and big (Japanese origin), while Ryu means dragon (japanese origin).
In US records, Kenta first appears in 1973 and Ryu in 1985, so Kenta has the longer recorded history.