Kimberlyn
Feminine · “Cyneburg's wood or clearing”
Kimberlyn extends Kimberly, which is an English place name that traveled to South Africa, gave its name to a diamond field, and came back as a women's name.
How old is the name Kimberlyn?
Kimberlyn first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Kimberlyn alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 3,800 people named Kimberlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimberlyn most popular?
Kimberlyn peaked in 1967, reaching #1172 nationally. Today it ranks #3780, 2,608 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cyneburga to Kimberlyn
The story of Kimberlyn
Kimberley in Norfolk is named for an Anglo-Saxon woman; a nineteenth-century earl took the title; a South African diamond town was named after him during the rush of the 1870s; and the name came into American use in the twentieth century, first for men and then overwhelmingly for women. Kimberlyn adds the -lyn ending that Carolyn and Evelyn left in circulation.
Meaningscholars disagree
Cyneburg's wood or clearing
The English place name Kimberley is generally read as the clearing or wood of a woman called Cyneburga, an Old English name meaning royal fortress. The South African town was named for a British colonial secretary who held the title Earl of Kimberley.
How the name formed
- Cyneburga
- Kimberley
- Kimberly
- Kimberlyn
Related forms: Kimberly · Kimberley
Pronouncing Kimberlyn
KIM-ber-lin
Three syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Kimberlyn
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 1994118 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1172reached in 1967
- Change vs 2024
- −15.2%39 in 2025, from 46
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.
Kimberlyn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kimberly in English — related form
- Kimberley in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Oklahoma, California.
Kimberlyns among us
people named Kimberlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 41,212 born in 2025 was named Kimberlyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kimberlyn
- #3780
- Kimberlyn on the 2025 chart
- #901
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kimberlyn went to 39 girls in 2025, but Kimberlynn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 59, which makes it the 901st most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,879 places above the chart.
- Kimberlyn39
- Kimberlynn20
About 1 girl in 27,242 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 41,212 for Kimberlyn itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Pasqualina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kimberlyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pasqualina climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pasqualina's path sketches the road Kimberlyn is walking now.
Kimberlyn 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 Kimberlyn is headed
Kimberlyn 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.
Kimberlyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kimberlyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English place name with an unusually well-traced journey behind it.
- Kim and Lyn are both complete short forms with their own histories.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Kimberly is far more common and will be assumed and written.
- It is strongly associated with one mid-century American generation.
- Ten letters is a great deal for early handwriting.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kimberlyn
Feminine · #3780 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kimberlyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Kimberlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kimberlyn?
- Kimberlyn is the most-used spelling in US records — 39 of the 59 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kimberlynn.
- How popular is the name Kimberlyn in 2025?
- Kimberlyn ranks #3780 among US girl names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kimberlyn?
- About 1 in every 41,212 US girls born in 2025 was named Kimberlyn — 39 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kimberlyn with classmates?
- Kimberlyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kimberlyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jonah#3780 · Aine#3780 · Jakayla#3780 · Shriya#3780 · Analeigh#3780 · Daliyah#3780 · Dawsyn#3780 · Jamia#3780
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kimberlyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kimberlyn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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