Kimberlea
Feminine · English roots · “from an English place-name”
Kimberlea is Kimberley with its last syllable spelled -lea and said the same. The name's line runs from an English village through a South African mining town, and that town gave geology a word of its own: kimberlite, the rock in which diamonds are carried up from deep in the earth.
How old is the name Kimberlea?
Kimberlea first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Kimberlea alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 500 people named Kimberlea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimberlea most popular?
Kimberlea peaked in 1957, reaching #2651 nationally. See the whole 1957 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kimberley (English village) to Kimberlea
The story of Kimberlea
The Earl of Kimberley took his title from an English village, and the diamond town founded in South Africa in the nineteenth century was named after him. When geologists described the dark volcanic rock of the town's diamond pipes, they called it kimberlite, and the word is still used for that rock wherever it is found, from Siberia to northern Canada. Kimberley as a given name came afterward, and Kimberlea is one of its many spellings; nothing records why this one chose -lea.
Meaning
from an English place-name
Kimberley is an English place-name joining an Old English personal name to leah, a woodland clearing. The given name came from the place by way of a title and a town; the -lea spelling changes nothing in the meaning.
How the name formed
- KimberleyEnglish village
- Earl of Kimberleytitle
- KimberleySouth African town
- Kimberlygiven name
- Kimberlea
Pronouncing Kimberlea
KIM-ber-lee
Three syllables stressed on the first, exactly like Kimberly; a reader who takes -lea as in the name Lea may try kim-ber-LAY-uh, which is not the usual saying.
Nicknames for Kimberlea
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 197022 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2651reached in 1957
- Change vs 1999
- 0.0%9 in 2000, from 9
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.
Kimberleas among us
people named Kimberlea 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
Kimberlea 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
- Sounds exactly like Kimberly, so no one mishears it.
- Kim is a ready, familiar short form.
- Carries a real place-name history, with a word in geology to show for it.
- It will be written Kimberly or Kimberley by nearly everyone, so the -lea will need spelling out.
- Kimberly has a strong generational feel in the United States, and this spelling does not change it; the difference is on paper only.
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Kimberlea
Feminine · English roots
Frequently asked
- How many Kimberleas 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 Kimberlea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kimberlea in 2025?
- Kimberlea is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Kimberlea with classmates?
- Kimberlea 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 Kimberlea? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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