Kongmeng
Kongmeng, a Chinese given name meaning "reverent" or "wise dreamer".
Name Census estimates that about 258 living Americans carry the first name Kongmeng. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kongmeng today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kongmeng births was 1997 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kongmeng. 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
1997
23 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2013 SSA rank
#9,286
Tracked since 1982
Census
Kongmeng in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Kongmeng, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kongmeng
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kongmeng is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.5%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Kongmeng 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 Kongmeng at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.5% · 335
- White1.2% · 4
- Black or African American0.9% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 3
- Two or more races0.6% · 2
Popularity
Kongmeng: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kongmeng from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 129 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kongmeng 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 Kongmeng during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kongmengs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Kongmeng, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kongmeng
The given name Kongmeng is an ancient Chinese name that originated during the Han Dynasty, which ruled China from 206 BC to 220 AD. It is derived from the Chinese words "kong" (空), meaning "empty" or "void", and "meng" (蒙), meaning "vast" or "expansive". The name is believed to have been inspired by the philosophical concept of emptiness or nothingness in Chinese Taoism and Buddhism.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kongmeng can be found in the historical text "Book of Han" (漢書), which was written during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). The text mentions a scholar named Kongmeng Zhi, who lived during the 1st century AD and was renowned for his expertise in Confucian classics.
In the 4th century AD, a renowned Taoist philosopher named Kongmeng Guan wrote a significant work called "The Treatise on the Virtue of Emptiness" (虛德論), which explored the Taoist concept of emptiness and its relation to the natural world.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), a famous Buddhist monk named Kongmeng Xuan gained recognition for his teachings on the principles of emptiness and non-attachment. He is said to have influenced the development of the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism in China.
Another notable figure with the name Kongmeng was a renowned calligrapher and painter named Kongmeng Yuan, who lived during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). His works were highly regarded for their artistic expression and embodiment of the Taoist principles of simplicity and harmony.
In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), a scholar named Kongmeng Zhen gained fame for his contributions to the study of Chinese philosophy and his interpretations of the Confucian classics.
While the name Kongmeng is not as common today as it once was, it continues to hold a significant place in Chinese cultural and philosophical traditions, serving as a reminder of the profound concepts of emptiness and the interconnectedness of all things.
People
Kongmeng + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kongmeng 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
Kongmeng: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kongmeng?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kongmeng 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 Kongmeng a common name?
We classify Kongmeng 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, 264 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kongmeng most popular?
The single biggest year for Kongmeng was 1997, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kongmeng is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kongmeng in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Kongmeng, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Kongmeng 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 Kongmeng?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kongmeng leans strongly male. 347 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Kongmeng?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kongmeng is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.5%. The next largest groups are White (1.2%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Kongmeng most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kongmeng in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.5% (335 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 Kongmeng in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kongmeng a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kongmeng 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 Kongmeng still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kongmeng 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 Kongmeng 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 Americans are named Kongmeng?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.