The name Kenai (/ˈkiːnaɪ/, KEE-ny) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina ("People along the Kahtnu (Kenai River)"), who historically inhabited the area.
Athabaskan and Alutiiq[3] Native groups lived on the peninsula for thousands of years prior to colonization during the Russian America era.
The glacier-covered Kenai Mountains run along the southeast spine of the peninsula along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska.
The peninsula includes several of the most populous towns in Southcentral Alaska, including Seward on the Gulf of Alaska Coast, Soldotna, Kenai, Sterling, and Cooper Landing along the Cook Inlet and Kenai River, and Homer, along Kachemak Bay, along with numerous smaller villages and settlements.
[16] The peninsula also has natural gas, petroleum, and coal deposits, as well as abundant commercial and personal-use fisheries.