Head to head · Girls' names
Evelynn vs Kimberly
#301 vs #302 in 2025
Evelynn is a whisker ahead (#301 vs #302 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Evelynn is holding its place on the charts, Kimberly is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Evelynn leads 4 measures of 6; Kimberly leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Evelynn #2465, Kimberly — — Evelynn higher
- 1920s: Evelynn #2118, Kimberly — — Evelynn higher
- 1930s: Evelynn #2500, Kimberly #3420 — Evelynn higher
- 1940s: Evelynn #2303, Kimberly #1323 — Kimberly higher
- 1950s: Evelynn #3114, Kimberly #168 — Kimberly higher
- 1960s: Evelynn #4243, Kimberly #10 — Kimberly higher
- 1970s: Evelynn #6274, Kimberly #7 — Kimberly higher
- 1980s: Evelynn #5590, Kimberly #19 — Kimberly higher
- 1990s: Evelynn #4128, Kimberly #40 — Kimberly higher
- 2000s: Evelynn #1525, Kimberly #61 — Kimberly higher
- 2010s: Evelynn #465, Kimberly #121 — Kimberly higher
- 2020s: Evelynn #317, Kimberly #231 — Kimberly higher
Kimberly stood higher in 9 of 12 decades; Kimberly has held the lead since the 1940s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Evelynn | Kimberly |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #2465 | — |
| 1920s | #2118 | — |
| 1930s | #2500 | #3420 |
| 1940s | #2303 | #1323 |
| 1950s | #3114 | #168 |
| 1960s | #4243 | #10 |
| 1970s | #6274 | #7 |
| 1980s | #5590 | #19 |
| 1990s | #4128 | #40 |
| 2000s | #1525 | #61 |
| 2010s | #465 | #121 |
| 2020s | #317 | #231 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Evelynn
Not established
What is documented is the chain, not the sense: the name descends from Aveline, a Norman French diminutive built on the Germanic element avi-, whose meaning has never been settled. Two associations circulate anyway — French aveline, 'hazelnut', and the biblical Eve, 'life' — and neither is the actual source. So the pleasure here is the history rather than a translation.
Aveline → Eveline → Evelyn → Evelynn
How it traveled
Aveline arrived in England with Norman French speakers after 1066 and settled in as both a given name and, in time, the family name Evelyn. From the seventeenth century onward the surname was handed back as a first name, and in Britain it was given to boys as well as girls for a long stretch — the writer's name and the soldier's name as much as the debutante's.
Kimberly
Cyneburg's clearing
The English villages called Kimberley are generally read as the clearing or wood of a person named Cyneburg or Cynebald — Old English leah, a clearing, after a personal name. Cyneburg itself joins cyne, royal, with burg, fortress. Which person and which village is not settled, and different Kimberleys have different readings. What is documented is the chain: village to earldom to South African town to American given name.
Cyneburg → Kimberley → Kimberly
How it traveled
The siege of Kimberley in the Boer War put the town's name in every English-language newspaper for four months, which is how a South African mining settlement became familiar to families who would never see it. American use as a given name follows, slowly at first and then in enormous volume in the middle of the last century.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Evelynn
EV-uh-lin
Three syllables, stress on the first. Some speakers, particularly in Britain, compress it to EEV-lin. The doubled n changes nothing about how it is said.
- Evie — The most common short form across the whole Evelyn family; also given as a standalone name in its own right.
- Eve — Informal in this context, though it is a full given name with its own long record.
- Lynn — Draws on the ending rather than the front; a given name in its own right, strongly represented among older generations.
- Ev — Brisk, mostly family and close-friend use.
- Also Evvie, Lynnie.
Kimberly
KIM-bur-lee
KIM-bur-lee, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. Kimberly and Kimberley are said identically; the extra e is the British and South African spelling of the place and the shorter one is the American name.
- Kim — The front clipped, and a complete working name in its own right for either child.
- Kimmie — The same softened, which belongs to childhood in most households.
- Berly — The back taken alone, unusual and used mostly within a family.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Evelynn if you want…
- a name on the way upup 27 places on the charts in five years
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Evie, Eve and Lynn
Choose Kimberly if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsKimberly is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Evelynn
Strengths
- Sounds like a name everyone already knows, so it is never explained aloud — only in writing.
- Comes with ready-made short forms: Evie, Eve, Lynn, all in real use for centuries.
- Has close relatives in French, Italian, Dutch, German and Spanish, so it travels without translation.
To consider
- Evelyn is the default spelling, and this one will be corrected to it for life — on forms, coffee cups, class lists. Worth deciding now whether you are happy to spell it out every time.
- Because the sound is widely shared, she may well be one of several Evelyns by ear in a classroom while being the only one with this spelling. Unique on paper, familiar in the air.
- Evelynn is also the name of a character in the game League of Legends, spelled exactly this way — a small association, but one some people will mention.
Kimberly
Strengths
- The chain from an Old English name to a diamond town is documented at every link.
- Kim is a complete working short form that needs no explanation anywhere.
- Three syllables with a firm front stress, which carries a short surname well.
To consider
- A very great many people carry it, so a Kimberly will rarely be the only Kim in a room.
- Kimberley with the extra e is standard outside America and the spelling gets corrected both ways.
- It is strongly associated with the second half of the last century and dates a person fairly closely.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Evelynn and Kimberly in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Evelynn and Kimberly?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Evelynn and Kimberly — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Evelynn or Kimberly — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Evelynn or Kimberly?
- Evelynn, in 2025: Evelynn ranked #301 with 1,012 babies; Kimberly ranked #302 with 1,009 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Evelynn or Kimberly?
- Evelynn. Over the last five years Evelynn moved up 27 places; Kimberly moved down 117 places.
- Which is the older name, Evelynn or Kimberly?
- Evelynn entered the US charts in 1914; Kimberly entered the US charts in 1933. On the American record, Evelynn is the older name.
- How many people are named Evelynn and Kimberly?
- About 15,500 people named Evelynn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 797,000 people named Kimberly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Evelynns or Kimberlys in the classroom?
- Evelynn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Kimberly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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