Kimela
An invented name with no clear etymological roots or meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 258 living Americans carry the first name Kimela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kimela today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimela births was 1957 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimela. 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
258
~ 1 in 1,328,505 Americans
Peak year
1957
27 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1976 SSA rank
#10,013
Tracked since 1954
Census
Kimela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 322 people with the first name Kimela, which placed it at #28,067 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
#28,067
National first-name rank
People counted
322
322 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimela is White at 69.6%. The next largest groups are Black (24.5%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Kimela 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 Kimela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.6% · 224
- Black or African American24.5% · 79
- Two or more races2.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 2
Popularity
Kimela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimela from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 182 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
Kimela 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 Kimela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Indiana, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Kimela, while North Carolina, Indiana, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimela
The name Kimela has its origins in the ancient Bantu languages of Central and Southern Africa. It is derived from the root word "kimela", which means "to sprout" or "to grow", signifying vitality, fertility, and the cycle of life. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the 16th century among the Luba people of the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kimela gained wider recognition in the 19th century when it was mentioned in the historical accounts of European explorers and missionaries who encountered various Bantu tribes. Some notable figures bearing this name include Kimela Mwamba, a revered healer and spiritual leader from the Lunda Kingdom in the 18th century, and Kimela Nzau, a prominent warrior and chief of the Yaka people in the late 19th century.
In the early 20th century, Kimela became a popular name among the Bemba people of Zambia. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Kimela Mwamba Ilunga, a renowned poet and storyteller who played a significant role in preserving the oral traditions of his people. He lived from 1905 to 1987.
Another notable figure was Kimela Nzinga, a Congolese writer and activist who fought for women's rights and education in the mid-20th century. Her groundbreaking work, "The Emancipation of the African Woman," published in 1948, was a seminal text in the feminist movement across the continent.
In more recent times, Kimela has been adopted by various communities across Africa and beyond. For example, Kimela Sidibé is a celebrated Malian singer and musician who has been instrumental in promoting the rich cultural heritage of West Africa through her music. She was born in 1960 and continues to perform and record to this day.
While the name Kimela has its roots in Africa, it has transcended geographical boundaries and cultural barriers, carrying with it a symbolic meaning of growth, renewal, and the enduring spirit of life itself.
People
Kimela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimela 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
Kimela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimela 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 1,328,505 US residents.
Is Kimela a common name?
We classify Kimela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 320 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimela most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimela was 1957, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimela is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 322 people with the name Kimela, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,067 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 Kimela 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 Kimela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimela appears almost entirely female. Of the 323 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kimela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimela is White at 69.6%. The next largest groups are Black (24.5%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Kimela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.6% (224 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 Kimela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kimela 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 Kimela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimela 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 Kimela 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 Kimela?
You can see how many people share the name Kimela on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.