Kam
An Indian Sanskrit name meaning "lover" or "one who desires".
Name Census estimates that about 1,224 living Americans carry the first name Kam. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Kam today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kam births was 1974 (75 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kam. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 280,028 Americans
Peak year
1974
75 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,011
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,080 people with the first name Kam, which placed it at #3,868 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,868
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,080 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kam is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.3%. The next largest groups are White (20.4%) and Black (10.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kam described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander63.3% · 3,218
- White20.4% · 1,037
- Black or African American10.0% · 508
- Two or more races3.0% · 153
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 151
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Kam
Kam is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,320 total registrations, 935 (70.8%) were male and 385 (29.2%) were female.
Kam as a male name
- Ranked #3,011 in 2024
- 41 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (57 births)
Kam as a female name
- Ranked #11,244 in 1982
- 5 female births in 1982
- Peak: 1974 (62 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kam on both sides of the split. Of the 5,081 people counted with this name, 3,000 were male (59.0%) and 2,081 were female (41.0%).
Popularity
Kam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kam from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 393 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kam remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kam by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kam, while Kentucky, Georgia, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kam
The name Kam originated from the Sanskrit language, which was the classical language of ancient India. It dates back to around the 2nd century BCE. In Sanskrit, the word "Kam" means "desire" or "longing."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kam can be found in the ancient Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata. In this epic, Kam was a minor character who was known for his bravery and loyalty.
Kam was also the name of a Hindu king who ruled over a small kingdom in northern India during the 6th century CE. He was known for his fair and just rule, and his kingdom prospered under his leadership.
In the 11th century, there was a famous Muslim scholar and philosopher named Kam al-Din al-Farabi. He was born in modern-day Kazakhstan and was known for his contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, and music theory.
During the Renaissance period, Kam was the name of a Italian painter and sculptor who lived in the 15th century. He was known for his intricate woodcarvings and his work can still be seen in many churches and cathedrals throughout Italy.
In more recent history, Kam Yuen was a prominent Chinese businessman and philanthropist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in 1828 and was known for his contributions to education and social welfare in Hong Kong.
Another notable figure with the name Kam was Kam Sing Wong, a Chinese-American author and activist who was born in 1925. He wrote extensively about the experiences of Chinese immigrants in the United States and was a vocal advocate for civil rights.
Overall, the name Kam has a rich history that spans multiple cultures and time periods. While its origins can be traced back to ancient India, it has been adopted and used by people from various backgrounds and has taken on different meanings and connotations over time.
People
Kam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kam as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,224 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kam going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 280,028 US residents.
Is Kam a common name?
We classify Kam as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,320 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kam most popular?
The single biggest year for Kam was 1974, when 75 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kam is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,080 people with the name Kam, or 1.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,868 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kam in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kam?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kam on both sides of the split. Of the 5,081 people counted with this name, 3,000 were male (59.0%) and 2,081 were female (41.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kam is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.3%. The next largest groups are White (20.4%) and Black (10.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kam most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (3,218 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kam a male name?
Yes, 70.8% of people registered as Kam in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kam in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kam can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Kam?
Find out how many people have the name Kam on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.