Kimbley
An English feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly deriving from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 505 living Americans carry the first name Kimbley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kimbley today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kimbley births was 1976 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kimbley. 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
505
~ 1 in 678,721 Americans
Peak year
1976
38 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1987 SSA rank
#9,284
Tracked since 1959
Census
Kimbley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 361 people with the first name Kimbley, which placed it at #26,014 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
#26,014
National first-name rank
People counted
361
361 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kimbley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimbley is Black at 59.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Kimbley 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 Kimbley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.6% · 215
- White31.0% · 112
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 11
- Two or more races2.8% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 6
Popularity
Kimbley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kimbley from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 307 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kimbley 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 Kimbley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kimbleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Georgia, Mississippi, Texas recorded the most babies named Kimbley, while South Carolina, New York, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kimbley
The name Kimbley is a relatively modern construction, believed to have originated in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is thought to be a blend of the names Kim and Bley, though its precise origins are unclear.
One theory suggests that Kimbley is derived from the Old English name Cynbiliċ, which means "royal leader." However, this connection is tenuous, and there is little evidence to support it.
Another possibility is that Kimbley is a variant of the name Kimberley, which is itself a place name derived from the town of Kimberley in South Africa. This town was named after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in the late 19th century.
While the name Kimbley is relatively uncommon, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances is Kimbley Jacoby (1887-1953), an American painter and illustrator known for his work in the Golden Age of Illustration.
Another notable figure is Kimbley Percival (1914-1992), a British actor and screenwriter who appeared in numerous films and television shows, including the popular sitcom "Dad's Army."
In the world of sports, Kimbley Gwaltney (1928-2008) was an American basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Syracuse Nationals and the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1950s.
Kimbley Paxton (1938-2021) was a Canadian activist and writer who was a prominent figure in the women's liberation movement and the fight for reproductive rights in Canada.
Finally, Kimbley Wilmot (1952-2018) was a British author and academic who wrote extensively on literary theory and postmodernism.
While not a particularly common name, Kimbley has a rich history spanning various fields and disciplines, from the arts to sports and activism.
People
Kimbley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kimbley 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
Kimbley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kimbley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 505 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kimbley 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 678,721 US residents.
Is Kimbley a common name?
We classify Kimbley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 573 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kimbley most popular?
The single biggest year for Kimbley was 1976, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kimbley is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kimbley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 361 people with the name Kimbley, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,014 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 Kimbley 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 Kimbley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kimbley leans strongly female. 353 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 9 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Kimbley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kimbley is Black at 59.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Kimbley most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kimbley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.6% (215 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 Kimbley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kimbley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kimbley 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 Kimbley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kimbley 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 Kimbley 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 Kimbley as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Kimbley, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.