Kemp
Masculine · “champion”
Kemp is a fighter. Middle English kempe meant a champion or an athlete, the man sent out to settle a contest, and the word survives now only in the surname. It is one of the oldest occupational bynames in English and one of the shortest.
How old is the name Kemp?
Kemp first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Kemp alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 900 people named Kemp are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kemp most popular?
Kemp peaked in 1898, reaching #1121 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 3,736 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From cempa to Kemp
The story of Kemp
Judicial combat and public wrestling both produced professionals, and a man who fought for others was a kempe: the surname records the trade. It is found across England from the thirteenth century, most densely in East Anglia, and crossed to America early. Kemp moved to the front of the name in the American manner, first inside families as a mother's maiden name and then given freely, and it belongs to the same short, hard group as Cash, Beck and Ward that American parents have been returning to.
Meaning
champion; warrior
Old English cempa, a warrior, which became Middle English kempe, a champion or a contestant in a wrestling match or a judicial duel. The word is related to the German Kampf, a fight, and both come from a Latin borrowing meaning a field of battle.
How the name formed
- cempa
- kempe
- Kemp
Related forms: Kempf · Kemp
Pronouncing Kemp
KEMP
One syllable, rhyming with hemp. There is no other reading.
Nicknames for Kemp
Limited
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
- 1898
- Most boys named
- 196024 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1121reached in 1898
- Change vs 2023
- +53.8%20 in 2025, from 13
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.
Kemp in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kempf in German — related form
- Kemp in Dutch — same name
Kemps among us
people named Kemp are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Kemp
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Kemp 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
Kemp beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kemp in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and one syllable: fast to write and impossible to mispronounce.
- The meaning is a single strong word with a documented English history.
- It works as a surname and a first name, which suits families using both.
- A one-syllable name gives a child nothing to shorten and no change of register.
- It is best known as a surname, so it will sometimes be read as a last name written first.
- Kemp and Camp are close enough in sound to be swapped by people writing quickly.
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Kemp
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kemps are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Kemp are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kemp in 2025?
- Kemp ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kemp?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Kemp — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kemp with classmates?
- Kemp will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kemp
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kemp? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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