Kimberli
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the royal meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 3,508 living Americans carry the first name Kimberli. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kimberli today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimberli births was 1968 (163 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimberli. 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
3.5K
~ 1 in 97,706 Americans
Peak year
1968
163 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,402
Tracked since 1951
Census
Kimberli in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,449 people with the first name Kimberli, which placed it at #5,094 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
#5,094
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,449 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimberli
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberli is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.7%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Kimberli 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 Kimberli at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 2,300
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 577
- Black or African American11.0% · 379
- Two or more races3.8% · 132
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 18
Popularity
Kimberli: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimberli from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,249 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
Kimberli 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 Kimberli during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimberlis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Texas, Utah recorded the most babies named Kimberli, while Wisconsin, Virginia, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 63 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimberli
The name Kimberli is an English feminine given name derived from the Old English words "cyn" meaning "royal" and "beorg" meaning "hill" or "mountain." It was originally a surname referring to someone who lived near a prominent hill or mountainous area. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 13th century in various English dialects, including Kimberly, Kymberley, and Kymberli.
The name gained popularity in the Middle Ages as a common surname in various regions of England. Over time, it transitioned into a feminine given name, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name as a first name was Kimberli Fairchild, an English noblewoman born in 1489.
While the name does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the most famous was Kimberli Browning (1590-1667), an English poet and author renowned for her sonnets and romantic verse. Another was Kimberli Weston (1712-1786), a British explorer and navigator who accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyages to the Pacific.
In the 19th century, Kimberli Alcott (1832-1888), an American author and educator, gained recognition for her novels and educational works. A contemporary of hers was Kimberli Nightingale (1820-1910), the pioneering English nurse who played a crucial role in establishing modern nursing practices.
More recently, Kimberli Wilkins (1919-2005), an American civil rights activist and lawyer, made significant contributions to the fight for racial equality and justice. She was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
People
Kimberli + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimberli 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
Kimberli: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimberli?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,508 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimberli 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 97,706 US residents.
Is Kimberli a common name?
We classify Kimberli as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,932 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimberli most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimberli was 1968, when 163 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimberli is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimberli in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,449 people with the name Kimberli, or 1.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,094 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 Kimberli 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 Kimberli?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimberli appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,452 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Kimberli?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimberli is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.7%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Kimberli most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kimberli in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (2,300 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 Kimberli in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimberli a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kimberli 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 Kimberli still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimberli 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 Kimberli 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 common is the name Kimberli?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Kimberli, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.