Kemani
Masculine
Kemani is given to both — 519 boys and 683 girls since 1880. See Kemani as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kemani is an American construction whose second half is a real Swahili word, and its first is a prefix that has been productive for fifty years.
How old is the name Kemani?
Kemani first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Kemani alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 500 people named Kemani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kemani most popular?
Kemani peaked in 2012, reaching #3179 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 1,360 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kemani
Ours, offered as ours. The Ke- prefix works the same way De-, La- and Ja- do: it marks a name as belonging to a tradition without adding a sense, in the manner of a grammatical particle. Keshawn, Kevon, Keandre, Kemani. What makes this family interesting is that the elements it attaches to are increasingly borrowed with intent — Swahili words for peace, faith and purpose — so the prefix is American and the stem is chosen.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source is established for the compound. Swahili amani, peace, is documented and borrowed from Arabic aman. The Ke- prefix belongs to twentieth-century American naming and carries no meaning of its own.
Pronouncing Kemani
kuh-MAH-nee
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. There is little variation.
Nicknames for Kemani
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1994
- Most boys named
- 201235 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3179reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +15.8%22 in 2025, from 19
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kemani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Amani in Swahili — related form
- Kimani in Kikuyu — related form
Kemanis among us
people named Kemani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Kemani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Fortune test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kemani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Fortune climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Fortune's path sketches the road Kemani is walking now.
Kemani sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Kemani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kemani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mani is a complete short form with lives in several languages.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- It belongs to a documented American naming tradition rather than standing alone.
- It is used for both sexes, so forms may guess wrong.
- Kemani, Kimani and Kymani come from different places and get merged.
- There is no documented meaning for the compound.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kemani
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kemanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Kemani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kemani in 2025?
- Kemani ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kemani?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Kemani — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kemani with classmates?
- Kemani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kemani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kemani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kemani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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