Kindra is a modern coined name, often associated by sound with kindness or with Kendra-style forms.
Kindra is most plausibly understood as a feminine elaboration of Kendra, with the softened spelling giving the name a slightly more lyrical quality. Kendra itself is a name of disputed but interesting etymology: some scholars connect it to the Welsh Cynddrig, a name borne by an early Welsh saint, while others trace it to Kendrick — from the Old Welsh Cynwrig or the Old English Cyneric, both carrying the element meaning "royal" or "chief" combined with "ruler" or "power." Regardless of which lineage is followed, there is a through-line of authority and leadership embedded in the name's roots.
Kendra emerged as a distinctly American given name in the mid-twentieth century, rising through the 1960s and 1970s as parents sought names that felt modern and feminine without leaning on the heavy Victorian stock. It became genuinely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, buoyed in part by the television personality Kendra Wilkinson in the early 2000s. Kindra, the variant with a softened interior consonant, never reached the same frequency but attracted parents who wanted the same sound with a slightly more individualized spelling — a small act of distinction within a fashionable naming tradition.
Kindra also benefits from an accidental semantic resonance with the English word "kind," lending the name a warmth that pure etymology doesn't quite account for. In an era when parents increasingly choose names for their emotional feel as much as their origins, that subliminal association with kindness and gentleness is no small thing.