Kimia
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "chemistry" or "alchemy".
Name Census estimates that about 563 living Americans carry the first name Kimia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kimia today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimia births was 2000 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimia. 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 Kimia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
563
~ 1 in 608,800 Americans
Peak year
2000
24 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,504
Tracked since 1980
Census
Kimia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 840 people with the first name Kimia, which placed it at #14,119 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
#14,119
National first-name rank
People counted
840
840 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimia is White at 69.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Two or More Races (9.6%). 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 Kimia 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 Kimia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.9% · 587
- Black or African American15.4% · 129
- Two or more races9.6% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Kimia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimia from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 183 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kimia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kimia 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 Kimia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimia
The name Kimia is derived from the Arabic word "al-kimiya," which means "the art of transformation." It traces its origins back to ancient Egypt and the study of alchemy, which was a precursor to modern chemistry. The name has been in use since the Middle Ages and was particularly popular among alchemists and scholars of that time.
In the 7th century, the term "al-kimiya" was adopted by Arabic alchemists, who played a significant role in the development of alchemy. They translated and preserved many ancient Greek texts on the subject, which later influenced the Western world. The name Kimia became associated with the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and the transformation of matter.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kimia can be found in the writings of the Arabic alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, who lived in the 8th century. He is considered the father of modern chemistry and made significant contributions to the field of alchemy.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kimia. One such person was Kimia Valizadeh, a 16th-century Persian poet and scholar known for her mastery of various literary forms, including ghazals and qasidas.
Another prominent individual was Kimia Anzani, a 17th-century Italian alchemist and philosopher. She was renowned for her work in the field of natural philosophy and her contributions to the understanding of the natural world.
In the 19th century, Kimia Bashiri was a prominent Iranian musician and composer. She was celebrated for her innovative compositions and her ability to blend traditional Persian music with modern influences.
In the 20th century, Kimia Alizadeh was an Iranian taekwondo athlete who became the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal. She won a bronze medal in the 57kg weight class at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Another notable figure was Kimia Younes, a Syrian-American author and activist. She gained recognition for her work advocating for human rights and her efforts to raise awareness about the plight of refugees.
People
Kimia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimia 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
Kimia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 563 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimia 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 608,800 US residents.
Is Kimia a common name?
We classify Kimia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 574 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimia most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimia was 2000, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimia is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 840 people with the name Kimia, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,119 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 Kimia 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 Kimia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimia appears almost entirely female. Of the 843 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Kimia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimia is White at 69.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Two or More Races (9.6%). 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 Kimia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.9% (587 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 Kimia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kimia 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 Kimia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimia 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 Kimia 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 Kimia?
You can see how many Americans are named Kimia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.