Kim
Feminine
Kim is given to both — 179,817 girls and 34,951 boys since 1880. See Kim as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Kim reached English as a boy's name from a novel, became a girl's name through Kimberly, and ended up one of the cleanest single syllables on the American chart. Very few names change sex and stay this recognizable.
How old is the name Kim?
Kim first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Kim alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 160,000 people named Kim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kim most popular?
Kim peaked in 1960, reaching #34 nationally. Today it ranks #4172, 4,138 places below that high. See the whole 1960 chart.
Kim appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Kimball to Kim
The story of Kim
Kipling's 1901 novel gave the English-speaking world a boy called Kim, and for the first decades of the century the name was masculine when it appeared at all. Kimberly came from another direction entirely: the South African town gave its name to the diamond rush and then, in American use, to a girls' name that rose through the 1940s and 1950s. Kim followed it up the chart as its natural short form, and by the early 1960s it was in the top forty for girls while quietly persisting for boys as well.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Kim has no meaning of its own. Read as short for Kimberly it points to the South African diamond town, which was named after a nineteenth-century British colonial secretary, whose title came from an English place name — so the trail ends in a piece of land rather than a word. Read as the standalone name from Kipling's novel, it is the character's own shortening of the Irish surname Kimball.
How the name formed
- Kimball
- Kimberley
- Kimberly
- Kim
Related forms: Kim · Kim · Kim
Pronouncing Kim
KIM
One syllable, said the same way everywhere it is used, including in Korean and Vietnamese where the identical spelling is an unrelated word.
Nicknames for Kim
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 196012,477 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #34reached in 1960
- Change vs 2023
- −10.5%34 in 2025, from 38
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.
Kim in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kim in Vietnamese — same name
- Kim in Korean — same name
- Kim in Dutch — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Kims among us
people named Kim are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 47,273 born in 2025 was named Kim
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 Bonnie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kim's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bonnie climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bonnie's path sketches the road Kim is walking now.
Kim 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
Where Kim is headed
Kim is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Kim beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kim in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, three letters, and legible in nearly every writing system that uses the Latin alphabet.
- It functions in East Asian and European contexts alike, which very few Western names do.
- Kimberly is available behind it when a longer form is wanted.
- It is given to both sexes, and in some countries the masculine reading is the default.
- The name has no meaning of its own to offer, which matters to families for whom that is the point.
- It is closely associated with one American generation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kim
Feminine · #4172 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kims are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 160,000 people named Kim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kim in 2025?
- Kim ranks #4172 among US girl names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kim?
- About 1 in every 47,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Kim — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kim with classmates?
- Kim will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kim
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseanna#4172 · Elida#4172 · Neila#4172 · Savina#4172 · Kendyl#4172 · Zakiya#4172 · Naisha#4172 · Ethel#4172
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kim? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kim and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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