Kimberely
From an English surname derived from a place named "Kimberly".
Name Census estimates that about 2,006 living Americans carry the first name Kimberely. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kimberely today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimberely births was 1970 (126 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimberely. 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
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,865 Americans
Peak year
1970
126 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2006 SSA rank
#18,707
Tracked since 1952
Census
Kimberely in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,579 people with the first name Kimberely, which placed it at #8,988 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
#8,988
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,579 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimberely
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberely is White at 62.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.2%) and Black (15.5%). 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 Kimberely 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 Kimberely at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.5% · 987
- Hispanic or Latino16.2% · 256
- Black or African American15.5% · 245
- Two or more races3.2% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 18
Popularity
Kimberely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimberely from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 941 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
Kimberely 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 Kimberely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimberelys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kimberely, while South Carolina, Oregon, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimberely
The name Kimberely is an English variant of the Scottish surname Kimberley, which originated as a place name referring to a town in Nottinghamshire, England. The name is believed to derive from the Old English words "cymbir" and "leah," meaning "royal meadow" or "royal clearing."
In the late 19th century, the name gained popularity due to the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley, South Africa, in 1867. The town was named after Lord Kimberley, a British colonial secretary at the time. This association with the diamond mining industry contributed to the name's widespread use as a given name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kimberely as a first name dates back to the early 20th century. Kimberely Browning was an American actress born in 1919 who appeared in several films during the 1940s and 1950s.
Another notable figure named Kimberely was Kimberely Peirce, an American filmmaker born in 1957. She is best known for directing the acclaimed films "Boys Don't Cry" and "Stop-Loss."
Kimberely Locke, an American singer and television personality, was born in 1978 and gained fame as the winner of the second season of the reality show "American Idol" in 2003.
Kimberely Jeffries, born in 1973, is a Canadian model and actress who has appeared in numerous television shows and films, including "The L Word" and "Becker."
Kimberely Russell, born in 1976, is an American actress best known for her roles in films such as "Dreamgirls," "Mission: Impossible III," and "Flight."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Kimberely, showcasing its enduring popularity and cultural significance.
People
Kimberely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimberely 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
Kimberely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimberely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,006 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimberely 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 170,865 US residents.
Is Kimberely a common name?
We classify Kimberely as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,300 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimberely most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimberely was 1970, when 126 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimberely is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimberely in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,579 people with the name Kimberely, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,988 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 Kimberely 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 Kimberely?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimberely appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,570 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kimberely?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberely is White at 62.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.2%) and Black (15.5%). 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 Kimberely most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimberely in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.5% (987 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 Kimberely in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimberely a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kimberely 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 Kimberely still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimberely 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 Kimberely 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 have Kimberely as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.