Keneke as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Keneke

What is the meaning of the name Keneke ?

The baby name Keneke is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced /kɛˈnɛkɛ/ (keh-NEH-keh).

Keneke is Hawaiian in Origin.

Keneke is the Hawaiian and wider Polynesian phonetic form of the English given name Kenneth, adapted to the open-syllable patterns of Hawaiian. The name entered island naming via 19th‑century contact and missionary schools; it appears in church registers and family genealogies in Hawaiʻi and other Polynesian communities. While uncommon today, it persists in Pacific communities and diaspora as a heritage variant.

As with Kenneth, Keneke draws etymologically from two Gaelic sources: Coinneach/Cainneach “handsome, fair” and Cináed/Cionaodh “born of fire.” Common short forms include Keni and Kene; related regional variants include Keneti (Samoan) in analogous usage; the English cognate is Kenneth, with Kenny as a nickname. Usage is primarily masculine, though some modern parents use it unisex. The name’s associations include St. Canice (St. Cainnech) of Kilkenny and several early Scottish kings named Cináed.

⚙ Keneke is exceptionally rare. Our whole dataset turns up only 5 recorded uses, across 4 countries.