Kimberly
Feminine · “Cyneburg's clearing”
Kimberly is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 846,393 girls against 4,273 boys since 1880. See Kimberly as a boy name
Kimberley was a diamond town named after an earl. The rush of eighteen seventy-one dug the largest hand-excavated hole in the world, and the settlement was named for the Colonial Secretary, Lord Kimberley — whose title came from an English village, whose name came from an Old English woman called Cyneburg. The name went from a woman to a place and back.
How old is the name Kimberly?
Kimberly first appears in US birth records in 1933 — 92 years ago. The typical Kimberly alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 797,000 people named Kimberly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimberly most popular?
Kimberly peaked in 1966, reaching #2 nationally. Today it ranks #302, 300 places below that high. See the whole 1966 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cyneburg to Kimberly
The story of Kimberly
The siege of Kimberley in the Boer War put the town's name in every English-language newspaper for four months, which is how a South African mining settlement became familiar to families who would never see it. American use as a given name follows, slowly at first and then in enormous volume in the middle of the last century. Almost none of that had anything to do with diamonds; the name simply sounded right. The Old English woman at the far end of the chain has been invisible for a thousand years.
Meaningscholars disagree
Cyneburg's clearing
The English villages called Kimberley are generally read as the clearing or wood of a person named Cyneburg or Cynebald — Old English leah, a clearing, after a personal name. Cyneburg itself joins cyne, royal, with burg, fortress. Which person and which village is not settled, and different Kimberleys have different readings. What is documented is the chain: village to earldom to South African town to American given name.
How the name formed
- Cyneburg
- Kimberley
- Kimberly
Pronouncing Kimberly
KIM-bur-lee
KIM-bur-lee, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. Kimberly and Kimberley are said identically; the extra e is the British and South African spelling of the place and the shorter one is the American name.
Nicknames for Kimberly
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
- 1933
- Most girls named
- 196733,097 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2reached in 1966
- Change vs 2023
- −24.6%1,009 in 2025, from 1,338
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.
Kimberly in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kimberlys among us
people named Kimberly are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,593 born in 2025 was named Kimberly
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 Barbara test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kimberly's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Barbara climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barbara's path sketches the road Kimberly is walking now.
Kimberly 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 Kimberly is headed
Kimberly should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Kimberly beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kimberly in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The chain from an Old English name to a diamond town is documented at every link.
- Kim is a complete working short form that needs no explanation anywhere.
- Three syllables with a firm front stress, which carries a short surname well.
- It is said correctly on first sight everywhere in the English-speaking world.
- A very great many people carry it, so a Kimberly will rarely be the only Kim in a room.
- Kimberley with the extra e is standard outside America and the spelling gets corrected both ways.
- It is strongly associated with the second half of the last century and dates a person fairly closely.
- This spelling is recorded for boys too, though so rarely that a boy named Kimberly will be read as a girl on every form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kimberly 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 Kimberly? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kimberly
Feminine · #302 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kimberlys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 797,000 people named Kimberly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kimberly in 2025?
- Kimberly ranks #302 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,009 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kimberly?
- About 1 in every 1,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Kimberly — 1,009 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kimberly with classmates?
- Kimberly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kimberly
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Daniela#302 · Evelynn#301 · Sylvia#300 · Elaine#304 · Adelina#304 · Elowyn#299 · Joanna#306 · Esme#298
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kimberly? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kimberly 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.
Or jump into a head-to-head
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