Kum
A short form of the Indian name "Kumkum," referring to sacred red powder.
Name Census estimates that about 15 living Americans carry the first name Kum. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kum today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kum births was 1940 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kum. 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
- • The typical person named Kum is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kums were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kum. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
15
~ 1 in 22,850,289 Americans
Peak year
1940
6 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1959 SSA rank
#6,747
Tracked since 1940
Census
Kum in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,743 people with the first name Kum, which placed it at #8,344 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
#8,344
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,743 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kum
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kum is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Black (1.3%). 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 Kum 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 Kum at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.2% · 1,660
- White2.2% · 38
- Black or African American1.3% · 22
- Two or more races0.9% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 8
Popularity
Kum: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kum from the 1940s through to the 1950s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Kum remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kum 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 Kum during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kums live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kum
The name Kum has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, spoken in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3000 BCE. It is derived from the Sumerian word "kum," which means "servant" or "attendant." The name likely originated as a title or occupation for those who served in the temples or palaces of ancient Sumer.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kum can be found in cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets from the Sumerian city-states. These tablets often listed names of individuals, their occupations, and their roles in society. The name Kum was likely given to individuals who worked as servants or attendants in religious or royal establishments.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kum was a high-ranking priest who served in the temple of the Sumerian god Enki in the city of Eridu around 2500 BCE. His name, Kum-Enki, translates to "servant of Enki," reflecting his role as an attendant in the temple.
In later periods, the name Kum appeared in various ancient Mesopotamian texts, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest known literary works in human history. The name was also found in administrative records and legal documents from the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, indicating its continued use throughout ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
Several notable historical figures bore the name Kum:
1. Kum-Baba (c. 2400 BCE), a Sumerian ruler of the city-state of Lagash, known for his military campaigns and construction projects.
2. Kum-Esharra (c. 2200 BCE), a Sumerian priestess and poet, celebrated for her hymns and religious writings.
3. Kum-Nungal (c. 1800 BCE), an Amorite prince who served as a governor in the city of Babylon during the reign of King Hammurabi.
4. Kum-Bau (c. 1300 BCE), an Assyrian scribe and scholar, renowned for his contributions to the study of cuneiform writing and literature.
5. Kum-Ashur (c. 900 BCE), a high-ranking official and military commander in the Assyrian Empire, known for his successful campaigns against neighboring kingdoms.
The name Kum gradually fell out of use as the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations declined, but it remains an important part of the cultural and linguistic heritage of the region.
People
Kum + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kum 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
Kum: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kum?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kum 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 22,850,289 US residents.
Is Kum a common name?
We classify Kum as "Very Rare". It ranks above 35.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kum most popular?
The single biggest year for Kum was 1940, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kum is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kum in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,743 people with the name Kum, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,344 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 Kum 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 Kum?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kum leans strongly female. 1,599 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 147 male bearers (8.4%). 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 Kum?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kum is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Black (1.3%). 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 Kum most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kum in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.2% (1,660 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 Kum in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kum a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kum 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 Kum still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kum 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 Kum 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 Kum?
You can see how many people have the name Kum on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.