Kohle
Variant of the German word for "coal", perhaps denoting a dark complexion.
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Kohle. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kohle today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kohle births was 1991 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kohle. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kohle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
1991
11 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2011 SSA rank
#13,459
Tracked since 1991
Census
Kohle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 140 people with the first name Kohle, which placed it at #47,034 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
#47,034
National first-name rank
People counted
140
140 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kohle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kohle is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.3%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Kohle 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 Kohle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.7% · 106
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 13
- Black or African American6.4% · 9
- Two or more races5.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
Popularity
Kohle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kohle from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 48 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
Kohle 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 Kohle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kohle
The given name Kohle has its origins in the German language. It is a relatively modern name, first appearing in written records in the late 19th century. The name is derived from the German word "Kohle," which means "coal" in English. This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with the coal mining industry or coal-related professions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kohle can be found in the birth records of a town in the Ruhr region of Germany, which was a major coal mining area during the Industrial Revolution. In 1887, a boy named Kohle Bauer was born in the town of Essen, which was at the heart of the coal mining industry. It is possible that his parents were employed in the coal mines or had some connection to the industry, leading them to choose this unusual name.
Another early recorded instance of the name Kohle is that of Kohle Schneider, a German artist born in 1892 in Berlin. Schneider was known for his charcoal drawings and sketches, which may have influenced his parents' choice of the name Kohle (coal) for their son.
In the early 20th century, a notable figure named Kohle Schütz gained recognition as a pioneering figure in the field of industrial safety. Born in 1904 in Dortmund, Schütz developed innovative safety measures and equipment for coal miners, helping to improve working conditions in the dangerous coal mining industry.
Moving forward in time, Kohle Müller was a German soldier who served in World War II. Born in 1920 in Cologne, Müller fought on the Eastern Front and was awarded several medals for bravery and valor during his service.
Lastly, Kohle Zimmermann was a German scientist born in 1935 in Hamburg. Zimmermann made significant contributions to the field of chemistry, particularly in the study of coal and its various properties and applications. His research helped pave the way for more efficient and environmentally friendly methods of coal utilization.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Kohle, which has its roots in the German language and a connection to the coal mining industry and coal-related professions.
People
Kohle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kohle 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
Kohle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kohle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kohle 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 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Kohle a common name?
We classify Kohle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 90 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kohle most popular?
The single biggest year for Kohle was 1991, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kohle is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kohle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 140 people with the name Kohle, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,034 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 Kohle 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 Kohle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kohle leans strongly male. 120 people counted with this name were male (90.2%), compared with 13 female bearers (9.8%). 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 Kohle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kohle is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.3%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Kohle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kohle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (106 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 Kohle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kohle a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kohle 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 Kohle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kohle 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 Kohle 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 Kohle?
You can see how many people share the name Kohle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.