Kimberlea
Feminine form of the English name Kimberly, meaning "from the meadow of the royal fortress".
Name Census estimates that about 460 living Americans carry the first name Kimberlea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kimberlea today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimberlea births was 1970 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimberlea. 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
460
~ 1 in 745,118 Americans
Peak year
1970
22 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2000 SSA rank
#10,345
Tracked since 1954
Census
Kimberlea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 452 people with the first name Kimberlea, which placed it at #22,141 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
#22,141
National first-name rank
People counted
452
452 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimberlea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberlea is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (4.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Kimberlea 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 Kimberlea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.9% · 393
- Black or African American4.4% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 13
- Two or more races2.7% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 6
Popularity
Kimberlea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimberlea 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 160 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
Kimberlea 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 Kimberlea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimberleas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimberlea
The name Kimberlea is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word "cynebyrht," which means "royal brightness" or "royal splendor." It is a combination of the words "cyne" (royal) and "byrht" (bright). The name is believed to have originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kimberlea can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this document, the name appears as "Kinebriht," which was likely a variant spelling of the Old English name.
In the Middle Ages, the name Kimberlea was not as common as other English names, but it did appear in various historical records and literary works. One notable example is Kimberlea de Lisle, a 13th-century English noblewoman who was the daughter of Sir William de Lisle and Margery de Beaumont.
During the Renaissance period, the name Kimberlea was occasionally used by English families, particularly those of noble or gentry class. One notable figure from this time was Kimberlea Montagu, born in 1568, who was a member of the influential Montagu family and the daughter of Sir Edward Montagu and Elizabeth Harrington.
In the 17th century, the name Kimberlea was brought to the American colonies by English settlers. One of the earliest recorded instances in America was Kimberlea Bradstreet, born in 1612 in Northampton, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Anne Bradstreet, one of the earliest published poets in the British North American colonies.
Another notable figure was Kimberlea Whipple, born in 1670 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. She was a Puritan woman who lived during the Salem Witch Trials and was accused of witchcraft but ultimately acquitted.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Kimberlea remained relatively uncommon, but it continued to be used by English and American families. One notable example was Kimberlea Brontë, born in 1776, who was the aunt of the famous Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.
Overall, the name Kimberlea has a rich history dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, with roots in the Old English language and references to royalty and brightness. While it has not been as widely used as some other English names, it has been borne by notable figures throughout history, from medieval noblewomen to colonial American settlers and literary figures.
People
Kimberlea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimberlea 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
Kimberlea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimberlea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 460 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimberlea 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 745,118 US residents.
Is Kimberlea a common name?
We classify Kimberlea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 531 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimberlea most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimberlea was 1970, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimberlea is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimberlea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 452 people with the name Kimberlea, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,141 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 Kimberlea 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 Kimberlea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimberlea appears almost entirely female. Of the 450 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 Kimberlea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberlea is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (4.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Kimberlea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimberlea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (393 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 Kimberlea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimberlea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kimberlea 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 Kimberlea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimberlea 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 Kimberlea 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 named Kimberlea?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.