Kimberle
Feminine
The best-known bearer of this spelling put a word into the language. Kimberle Crenshaw, writing about a discrimination case in which Black women were losing on both counts because the law would consider race or sex but not the two together, called the problem intersectionality, and the term has been in general use ever since.
How old is the name Kimberle?
Kimberle first appears in US birth records in 1951 — 74 years ago. The typical Kimberle alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 1,100 people named Kimberle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimberle most popular?
Kimberle peaked in 1962, reaching #1376 nationally. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kimberley to Kimberle
The story of Kimberle
The paper came out at the end of the nineteen-eighties and made a narrow, precise point: five Black women sued a car plant for discrimination and lost, because the company had hired white women and Black men, so it could show that it did not discriminate against women and did not discriminate against Black people, and the court would not hear a claim about the combination. The metaphor of a crossroads followed from the facts of the case. The word spread out of law into everything else within twenty years and is now used far more loosely than it was coined, which its author has commented on. It is a rare thing for a first name to be attached to a concept rather than to a story.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name descends from a South African diamond town, itself named after a British politician, whose own title came from an English village. Nothing along that chain describes a person. The final e in this spelling is an American addition that changes how the name is said, which most respellings do not.
How the name formed
- Kimberley
- Kimberly
- Kimberle
Pronouncing Kimberle
KIM-bur-lay
Three syllables with a full vowel at the end, which is the point of the e. English would ordinarily silence a final e after a consonant, so the name has to be introduced; the standard spelling with a y has an unstressed ee instead and is a different sound.
Nicknames for Kimberle
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
- 1951
- Most girls named
- 196265 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1376reached in 1962
- Change vs 1997
- −37.5%5 in 2001, from 8
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.
Kimberles among us
people named Kimberle are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Kimberle sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The final e produces a real difference in sound rather than a purely visual one.
- Kim is a complete, established name sitting in the front half.
- The name has a documented modern bearer whose work a child can look up.
- English readers will silence the final e on sight and produce a quite different name.
- Kimberly is enormously commoner and will be written by anyone taking dictation.
- There is no meaning to give a child, only a town and a politician.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kimberle
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kimberles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Kimberle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kimberle in 2025?
- Kimberle is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Kimberle with classmates?
- Kimberle will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kimberle? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kimberle and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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