Kimberly
Of English and Old English origin meaning "circle of meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 756,331 living Americans carry the first name Kimberly. It sits at #246 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Kimberly today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimberly births was 1970 (34,246 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimberly. 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 Kimberly with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kimberly is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 4,273 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Kimberly have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
756K
~ 1 in 453 Americans
Peak year
1970
34,246 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2021 SSA rank
#246
Tracked since 1933
Census
Kimberly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 696,172 people with the first name Kimberly, which placed it at #51 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
#51
National first-name rank
People counted
696K
696,172 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
230.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimberly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberly is White at 72.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (10.1%). 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 Kimberly 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 Kimberly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.7% · 506,159
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 80,637
- Black or African American10.1% · 70,415
- Two or more races3.1% · 21,773
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 13,041
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4,147
Gender
Gender distribution for Kimberly
Out of the 849,647 babies given the name Kimberly since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kimberly as a male name
- Ranked #11,510 in 2021
- 6 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1955 (177 births)
Kimberly as a female name
- Ranked #246 in 2024
- 1,285 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (34,133 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimberly appears almost entirely female. Of the 696,165 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kimberly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimberly from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 260,126 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kimberly 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 Kimberly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimberlys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kimberly, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16,593 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimberly
The name Kimberly has its origins in the Old English word "cymbrie," which means "from the meadow of Cymry," referring to the Cymry people of Wales. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Kimberly or Kimberley, which was derived from the Middle English words "kin" (meaning "royal" or "noble") and "burgh" (meaning "fort" or "town").
The earliest recorded use of the name Kimberly can be traced back to the late 19th century, when it began to gain popularity in English-speaking countries. It is believed that the name was first used as a given name for girls in England, where it was likely inspired by the town of Kimberley in South Africa, which was named after Lord Kimberley, a British politician.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Kimberly was Kimberly Conrad (1858-1944), an American writer and educator. Another notable figure was Kimberly Kumai (1897-1988), a Japanese-American artist and activist who was known for her work in promoting cultural understanding between the United States and Japan.
In the 20th century, the name Kimberly gained widespread popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Some famous individuals with the name Kimberly include Kimberly Elise (born 1967), an American actress known for her roles in films such as Beloved and Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and Kimberly Peirce (born 1967), an American film director best known for her work on Boys Don't Cry.
Another notable figure with the name Kimberly is Kimberly Guilfoyle (born 1969), an American lawyer, prosecutor, and television news personality who has worked for various news organizations, including Fox News. Additionally, Kimberly Locke (born 1978) is an American singer and songwriter who gained recognition as a contestant on the second season of American Idol.
The name Kimberly has remained a popular choice for baby girls in many parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its enduring appeal can be attributed to its melodic sound, its connection to the natural world (through its meaning of "meadow"), and its association with notable figures throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kimberly
People
Kimberly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimberly 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
Kimberly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimberly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 756,331 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimberly 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 453 US residents.
Is Kimberly a common name?
We classify Kimberly as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 849,647 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimberly most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimberly was 1970, when 34,246 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimberly is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimberly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 696,172 people with the name Kimberly, or 230.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51 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 Kimberly 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 Kimberly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimberly appears almost entirely female. Of the 696,165 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kimberly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberly is White at 72.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (10.1%). 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 Kimberly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimberly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.7% (506,159 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 Kimberly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimberly a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Kimberly 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 Kimberly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimberly 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 Kimberly 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 named Kimberly?
See how many people share the name Kimberly on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.