Kimball
Masculine · “Old English cyne and beald”
Kimball is given to both — 2,008 boys and 140 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kimball has been stranded by its own nickname. Kim was a man's name in English for centuries and is now firmly female, which leaves the full name attached to a short form that no longer matches it.
How old is the name Kimball?
Kimball first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Kimball alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 1,600 people named Kimball are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimball most popular?
Kimball peaked in 1954, reaching #908 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,787 places below that high. See the whole 1954 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cynebeald to Kimball
The story of Kimball
Kim was the short form of Kimball and of Kimberley and was used for men without comment; Kipling's novel of 1901 is about a boy called Kim, short for Kimball O'Hara. Through the middle of the twentieth century the female Kimberly rose steeply in America and took the short form with it, and by the 1970s Kim read as unambiguously female in English. That left the older male full names without a usable nickname, which is a real practical problem and one of the quieter ways a name goes out of use: not because anyone dislikes it, but because the everyday form it depends on has been reassigned. The Korean surname Kim, carried by tens of millions, is unrelated to any of it.
Meaningscholars disagree
Old English cyne and beald, royally bold
Kimball is generally traced to Old English Cynebeald, from cyne, royal, and beald, bold, or to Welsh Cynbel, a war chief. The two proposals are both old and neither is settled. The American peak is 1954.
How the name formed
- Cynebeald
- Kimball
Related forms: Kimble · Cynbel
Pronouncing Kimball
KIM-bul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kimball and Kimble are homophones in most American speech.
Nicknames for Kimball
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 boys named
- 195466 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #908reached in 1954
- Change vs 2023
- −14.3%6 in 2025, from 7
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.
Kimball in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kimble in English — spelling variant
- Cynbel in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah.
Kimballs among us
people named Kimball are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Kimball
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 Porfirio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kimball's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Porfirio climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Porfirio's path sketches the road Kimball is walking now.
Kimball 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
Kimball beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kimball in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and seven letters, spelled as heard.
- The Old English elements are documented and dignified.
- It is rare without being invented.
- Its natural short form now reads as female.
- It will be heard as Kimble or Campbell.
- The 1954 peak dates its American use.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kimball to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Kimball? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kimball
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kimballs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Kimball are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kimball in 2025?
- Kimball ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kimball?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Kimball — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kimball with classmates?
- Kimball will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kimball
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kimball? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kimball and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle