Kim
A feminine name of Korean origin meaning "golden".
Name Census estimates that about 170,886 living Americans carry the first name Kim. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Kim today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kim births was 1960 (13,630 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kim. 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 Kim with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Kim have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
171K
~ 1 in 2,006 Americans
Peak year
1960
13,630 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,817
Tracked since 1912
Census
Kim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246,388 people with the first name Kim, which placed it at #224 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
#224
National first-name rank
People counted
246K
246,388 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
81.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kim is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Kim 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 Kim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 179,679
- Black or African American10.7% · 26,448
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.2% · 25,031
- Two or more races3.0% · 7,315
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 6,486
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,429
Gender
Gender distribution for Kim
Kim leans heavily female at 83.7% of total registrations, but 34,944 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kim as a male name
- Ranked #6,643 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1955 (3,490 births)
Kim as a female name
- Ranked #4,817 in 2024
- 28 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (12,474 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kim leans strongly female. 217,260 people counted with this name were female (88.2%), compared with 29,124 male bearers (11.8%).
Popularity
Kim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kim from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 101,573 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
Kim 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 Kim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kims live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Kim, while Alaska, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,097 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kim
The name Kim is of Korean origin, derived from the ancient Korean word "gim," meaning "gold" or "golden." It is a unisex name that has been in use for centuries in Korea.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Kim can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms period in ancient Korea, which spanned from the 1st century BCE to the 7th century CE. During this time, the name was associated with nobility and was often given to children born into prestigious families.
In Korean mythology, there is a reference to a legendary figure named Kim Alji, who is said to have been the founder of the Gaya confederacy, one of the ancient kingdoms of Korea. This historical connection has contributed to the enduring popularity of the name among Koreans.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Kim was Kim Bu-sik (1075-1151), a renowned Korean historian and scholar who authored the Samguk Sagi, a historical record of the Three Kingdoms period. His work is considered a seminal text in Korean historiography.
Another prominent individual named Kim was Kim Hongdo (1745-1806), a celebrated Korean painter and scholar of the Joseon Dynasty. His masterful brush strokes and innovative techniques influenced generations of Korean artists.
In more recent history, Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) was the founding leader of North Korea and is revered as the "Eternal President" of the country. His son, Kim Jong-il (1941-2011), succeeded him as the supreme leader of North Korea.
Outside of Korea, Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009) was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the President of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts to promote democracy and human rights in South Korea.
Kim Ki-duk (1960-2020) was a renowned South Korean film director and screenwriter known for his provocative and unconventional films, such as "Pieta" and "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring."
These are just a few examples of historical figures who have borne the name Kim, a name that continues to hold cultural significance and enduring popularity in Korea and beyond.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kim
People
Kim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kim 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
Kim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 170,886 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kim 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 2,006 US residents.
Is Kim a common name?
We classify Kim as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 214,725 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kim most popular?
The single biggest year for Kim was 1960, when 13,630 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kim is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246,388 people with the name Kim, or 81.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #224 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 Kim 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 Kim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kim leans strongly female. 217,260 people counted with this name were female (88.2%), compared with 29,124 male bearers (11.8%). 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 Kim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kim is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Kim most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (179,679 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 Kim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kim a female name?
Yes, 83.7% of people registered as Kim 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 Kim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kim 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 Kim 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 Kim?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kim at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.