Kemya
A feminine name originating from Arabic meaning "alchemy" or "the transmutation of substances".
Name Census estimates that about 598 living Americans carry the first name Kemya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kemya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kemya births was 2009 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kemya. 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
598
~ 1 in 573,168 Americans
Peak year
2009
53 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,431
Tracked since 1998
Census
Kemya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 488 people with the first name Kemya, which placed it at #20,967 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
#20,967
National first-name rank
People counted
488
488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kemya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kemya is Black at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (2.0%). 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 Kemya 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 Kemya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.0% · 444
- Two or more races4.1% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 10
- White1.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Kemya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kemya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 348 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kemya 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 Kemya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kemyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Georgia, Virginia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Kemya, while Texas, North Carolina, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kemya
The name Kemya has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the medieval Islamic period. It is derived from the Arabic word "كيمياء" (kīmiyā'), which means "alchemy" or "chemistry". This word was borrowed from the ancient Greek word "χημεία" (khēmeia), referring to the art of transforming matter.
Kemya was likely used as a name during the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th centuries. During this time, the study of alchemy and chemistry flourished in the Islamic world, with notable contributions from scholars such as Jabir ibn Hayyan and Al-Razi. The name Kemya may have been given to individuals involved in these fields or as a reflection of the importance placed on scientific knowledge.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kemya can be found in the writings of the 9th-century Persian polymath, Al-Kindi. He mentioned a scholar named Kemya ibn al-Hasan, who was known for his work in alchemy and natural philosophy.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kemya. One example is Kemya al-Sharif, a renowned 12th-century Andalusian poet and philosopher from Seville, known for her contributions to the literary and intellectual circles of her time.
Another prominent figure was Kemya al-Baghdadi, a 13th-century mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad, who made significant contributions to the development of algebra and trigonometry.
In the 14th century, Kemya al-Dimashqi was a renowned Syrian scholar and physician, who wrote extensively on topics ranging from medicine to philosophy.
The name Kemya also appeared in the 16th century, with Kemya Bint Ibrahim al-Ansari, a prominent Moroccan scholar and poet, renowned for her mastery of Arabic literature and her advocacy for women's education.
While the name Kemya may have been more common in the past, it continues to hold historical significance and a connection to the rich intellectual and scientific traditions of the medieval Islamic world.
People
Kemya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kemya 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
Kemya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kemya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 598 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kemya 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 573,168 US residents.
Is Kemya a common name?
We classify Kemya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 605 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kemya most popular?
The single biggest year for Kemya was 2009, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kemya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kemya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 488 people with the name Kemya, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,967 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 Kemya 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 Kemya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kemya appears almost entirely female. Of the 483 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kemya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kemya is Black at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (2.0%). 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 Kemya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kemya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.0% (444 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 Kemya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kemya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kemya in the SSA data are female. 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 Kemya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kemya 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 Kemya 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 are called Kemya?
You can see how many Americans are named Kemya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.