Kylie Jenner grew up on camera next to three half-sisters who are proudly half Armenian, so the assumption rubs off on her constantly. It shouldn’t. Kylie has no Armenian ancestry at all.
What is Kylie Jenner’s ethnicity?
Kylie was born in Los Angeles on August 10, 1997, to Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner. Her nationality is American. Her ethnic background is Northwestern European on both sides.
Kris Jenner was born Kristen Mary Houghton, and her documented ancestry runs through Dutch, English, Irish, German and Scottish lines. Caitlyn Jenner’s family tree is a similar Northwestern European mix. There is no Armenian branch anywhere in it.
That’s the whole answer, genealogically. Two non-Armenian parents, zero Armenian grandparents.
Why do people think Kylie Jenner is Armenian?
Association, mostly. Kylie spent her childhood on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” in a household where Armenian identity came up often. Kim had her children baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The sisters visited Yerevan together in 2015 and laid flowers at the Tsitsernakaberd genocide memorial. When a family brands itself that publicly around a heritage, viewers extend it to everyone with the same last-name adjacency.
Her looks feed the guess too. Google’s autocomplete literally suggests “why does kylie jenner look armenian.” Dark hair and strong features match the mental image many people have of Armenian women, but Kylie’s coloring comes from her own European ancestry, plus a fair amount of styling. Appearance is a terrible genealogy tool.
Is Kendall Jenner Armenian?
No. Kendall, born November 3, 1995, shares both parents with Kylie. Same two family trees, same answer. Neither Jenner sister has any Armenian blood.
Is Kris Jenner Armenian?
No, and this one trips people up the most because she carried the Kardashian surname for years. Kris got the name by marriage. Her first husband, Robert Kardashian Sr., was a fully Armenian-American attorney whose grandparents fled the Armenian Genocide and settled in Los Angeles. Kris herself is of Dutch, English, Irish, German and Scottish descent. Marrying into a name doesn’t rewrite ancestry, even when the tabloids treat the whole clan as one unit.
So who in the family is actually Armenian?
Four people: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob Kardashian Jr. Each is half Armenian through Robert Kardashian Sr. His grandfather Tatos Kardashian came from Karakale, a village near Kars in what is now eastern Turkey, and the family name itself means “son of a stonemason” in Armenian. We cover the full lineage, the surname etymology and Kim’s genocide-recognition advocacy in our article on whether the Kardashians are Armenian.
The clean way to remember it: Kardashian siblings, half Armenian. Jenner siblings, not Armenian at all. One famous household, two different family trees.