Boy · Old English
Cynehelm
Say it: KIN-eh-helm
Meaning
From Old English cyne 'royal' and helm 'helmet, protection'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
The cult of St Kenelm at Winchcombe kept the name alive as Kenelm in the West Midlands and some gentry families.
Its wave through time
No birth counts are recorded for this name in the records loaded here: it has been given to fewer than five babies a year, or not at all, since records began.
Through the ages
- The Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age700 to 1100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Kenelm
Famous bearers
- St Kenelm of Mercia
- Sir Kenelm Digby, English courtier and philosopher
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Anglo-Saxon charters, chronicles and church records
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.