Kempton
From an English place name meaning settlement on the ridge of land.
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Kempton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kempton today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kempton births was 2013 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kempton. 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.
People living today
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
2013
15 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2020 SSA rank
#7,812
Tracked since 1915
Census
Kempton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 366 people with the first name Kempton, which placed it at #25,756 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
#25,756
National first-name rank
People counted
366
366 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kempton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kempton is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Kempton 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 Kempton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.8% · 237
- Black or African American24.6% · 90
- Two or more races4.6% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Kempton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kempton 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 87 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kempton 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 Kempton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kempton
The given name Kempton has its origins in Old English, deriving from the combination of two elements – "Cempa," meaning warrior or champion, and "tun," signifying an enclosure or settlement. This name bears the connotation of a formidable warrior residing within a fortified town or village.
During the Anglo-Saxon era, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century, names with similar roots were prevalent in regions such as present-day England and parts of northern Europe. Variants like Kempton, Kemton, and Kemptown were used interchangeably, reflecting the fluidity of spellings in those times.
While no specific historical references to individuals bearing the name Kempton have been found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the late 11th century. One notable example is Kempton de Hastings, a Norman knight who accompanied William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
Throughout the centuries, the name Kempton has been carried by various figures, though their prominence has varied. One such individual was Kempton Bunton, a British man who famously stole Francisco Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London in 1961, holding it for ransom to raise funds for charitable causes.
Another figure bearing this name was Kempton Winslow (1888-1964), an American actor and film director who appeared in several silent films during the early 20th century. His works included notable titles such as "The Squaw Man" (1914) and "The Coward" (1915).
In the realm of sports, Kempton Bunton (1904-1995), an English professional footballer, made his mark as a center-forward for clubs like Sheffield United and Middlesbrough in the 1920s and 1930s.
Shifting to the literary world, Kempton Carmichael (1898-1968) was an American author and screenwriter known for his contributions to popular pulp fiction magazines in the mid-20th century.
Lastly, Kempton Lyman (1791-1857), an American politician, served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Massachusetts from 1835 to 1837.
These individuals, spanning various eras and fields, have carried the name Kempton, preserving its historical roots and adding their unique legacies to its tapestry.
People
Kempton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kempton 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
Kempton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kempton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kempton 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Kempton a common name?
We classify Kempton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 282 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kempton most popular?
The single biggest year for Kempton was 2013, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kempton is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kempton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 366 people with the name Kempton, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,756 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 Kempton 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 Kempton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kempton leans strongly male. 354 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 12 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Kempton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kempton is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Kempton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kempton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.8% (237 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 Kempton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kempton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kempton 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 Kempton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kempton 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 Kempton 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 Americans are named Kempton?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.