Kimani
Of African origin, meaning "born during harvest" or "reason for celebration".
Name Census estimates that about 3,325 living Americans carry the first name Kimani. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Kimani today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimani births was 2008 (151 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimani. 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 Kimani with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kimani started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Kimani sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 103,084 Americans
Peak year
2008
151 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,417
Tracked since 1969
Census
Kimani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,487 people with the first name Kimani, which placed it at #6,443 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
#6,443
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,487 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimani is Black at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Kimani 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 Kimani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.8% · 2,109
- Two or more races6.9% · 172
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 141
- White1.5% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Kimani
Kimani is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,390 total registrations, 1,726 (50.9%) were male and 1,664 (49.1%) were female.
Kimani as a male name
- Ranked #3,555 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (69 births)
Kimani as a female name
- Ranked #3,417 in 2024
- 46 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (111 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kimani on both sides of the split. Of the 2,488 people counted with this name, 1,344 were male (54.0%) and 1,144 were female (46.0%).
Popularity
Kimani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimani from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 980 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kimani remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kimani 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 Kimani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Kimani, while Ohio, Louisiana, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimani
The name Kimani originates from the Kikuyu language, spoken by the Kikuyu people of Kenya. It is derived from the word "kiama," which means "warrior" or "brave one." The name is believed to have been in use since ancient times, reflecting the strong warrior traditions of the Kikuyu tribe.
In the early 19th century, the name Kimani appeared in written records kept by Christian missionaries who were among the first to document the Kikuyu language and culture. These records provide some of the earliest written accounts of the name's usage.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Kimani was a Kikuyu chief who lived in the late 18th century. While his exact birth and death dates are unknown, he was renowned for his leadership and bravery during conflicts with neighboring tribes.
In the 20th century, several notable individuals with the name Kimani achieved prominence. Kimani Nganga Maruge (1920-2009) was a Kenyan politician and activist who played a significant role in the country's independence movement. He served as a member of the Legislative Council and was later appointed as an assistant minister in the post-independence government.
Another prominent figure was Kimani Gecau (1937-2008), a Kenyan politician and diplomat. He served as a member of parliament and held various cabinet positions, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Education. Gecau was also Kenya's ambassador to the United Nations from 1978 to 1988.
In the field of literature, Kimani Njogu (born 1945) is a renowned Kenyan author and scholar. He has written several books on African literature, culture, and politics, and has been a professor at various universities in Kenya and abroad.
Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge (1923-2015) was a Kenyan freedom fighter and politician. He played a crucial role in the Mau Mau uprising against British colonial rule and was later elected to the National Assembly, serving as a member of parliament for several terms.
These are just a few examples of prominent individuals throughout history who have borne the name Kimani, reflecting its deep roots in Kenyan culture and its association with bravery, leadership, and a strong sense of identity.
People
Kimani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimani 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
Kimani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimani 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 103,084 US residents.
Is Kimani a common name?
We classify Kimani as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimani most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimani was 2008, when 151 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimani 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 Kimani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,487 people with the name Kimani, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,443 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 Kimani 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 Kimani?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kimani on both sides of the split. Of the 2,488 people counted with this name, 1,344 were male (54.0%) and 1,144 were female (46.0%). 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 Kimani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimani is Black at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Kimani most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kimani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (2,109 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 Kimani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimani a male name?
Yes, 50.9% of people registered as Kimani 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 Kimani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimani 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 Kimani 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 share the name Kimani?
Find out how many people have the name Kimani on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.