Kimball
A unisex name of Old English origin meaning "warrior from the hollow or meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 1,696 living Americans carry the first name Kimball. It is a predominantly male name (93.5% of registrations). The average person named Kimball today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimball births was 1954 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimball. 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 Kimball with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 202,096 Americans
Peak year
1954
66 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,312
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kimball in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,870 people with the first name Kimball, which placed it at #7,912 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
#7,912
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,870 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimball
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimball is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Kimball 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 Kimball at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.7% · 1,583
- Black or African American7.6% · 143
- Two or more races2.9% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Kimball
Kimball leans heavily male at 93.5% of total registrations, but 140 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kimball as a male name
- Ranked #6,312 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1954 (66 births)
Kimball as a female name
- Ranked #17,947 in 2014
- 5 female births in 2014
- Peak: 1957 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimball leans strongly male. 1,624 people counted with this name were male (86.8%), compared with 246 female bearers (13.2%).
Popularity
Kimball: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimball from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 535 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kimball 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 Kimball during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimballs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Utah, California, New York recorded the most babies named Kimball, while Washington, Ohio, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimball
The name Kimball is of English origin, deriving from the Old English words "cym" meaning "royal" and "ball" meaning "dwelling" or "homestead." This suggests that the name originally referred to a royal or noble residence. It may have been used to describe someone who lived or worked at such a residence.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kimball dates back to the 13th century in England. The Domesday Book, a survey of landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, includes references to places with names similar to Kimball, such as Kinebauld and Kynebaldes.
In the 16th century, the name appears in historical records associated with the English Reformation. Richard Kimball (c. 1510 - c. 1580) was a Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake for his religious beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Kimball was Benjamin Kimball (1637-1696), an early settler in Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was among the founders of the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and served as a selectman and deputy to the General Court.
The name gained prominence in the 19th century with Heber C. Kimball (1801-1868), a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Kimball was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and served as the first Chief Scout for the Mormon pioneers.
Another notable figure with the name was Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985), the 12th President of the LDS Church from 1973 to 1985. He emphasized the importance of missionary work and advocated for greater involvement of women in the church.
In the field of literature, Edward Kimball (1882-1966) was an American author and journalist known for his novels and short stories depicting life in New England. His works include "Ike Glidden" and "This Knocking at My Heart."
Kimball has also been a name associated with the arts. Nell Kimball (1854-1934) was an American stage actress who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and was renowned for her comedic talents.
People
Kimball + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimball 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
Kimball: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimball?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimball 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 202,096 US residents.
Is Kimball a common name?
We classify Kimball as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimball most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimball was 1954, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimball is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimball in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,870 people with the name Kimball, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,912 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 Kimball 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 Kimball?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimball leans strongly male. 1,624 people counted with this name were male (86.8%), compared with 246 female bearers (13.2%). 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 Kimball?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimball is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Kimball most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimball in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (1,583 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 Kimball in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimball a male name?
Yes, 93.5% of people registered as Kimball 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 Kimball still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimball 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 Kimball 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 Kimball?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.