Kendal: Last Name Origin and Family Crest

Seen on a gravestone or a census line, Kendal usually leads back to Kendall. At root, the name means “Valley of the River Kent”. Without the “l” of Kendall, Kendal is a simpler written form of the same name. Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists.

The 2010 census count for Kendal in the United States was 319, good for rank 62,714. It sits within the 100,000 most common last names in the country.

Arms linked to Kendall and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Research your Kendal family history with a full surname report and painted coat of arms.