Kimmy
Masculine · “Cyneburg's field”
Kimmy is given to both — 277 boys and 1,089 girls since 1880. See Kimmy as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kimmy is two removes from where it started. Kimberly is an English place name that became a South African diamond town that became an American given name; Kim was clipped from it; and Kimmy is Kim softened again. Each step is small and ordinary, and together they get a very long way from a village in Nottinghamshire.
How old is the name Kimmy?
Kimmy first appears in US birth records in 1951 — 74 years ago. The typical Kimmy alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 200 people named Kimmy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimmy most popular?
Kimmy peaked in 1959, reaching #1709 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kimberley to Kimmy
The story of Kimmy
The diamond fields at Kimberley were named for a British colonial secretary who took his title from the English village, and the discoveries there in the eighteen-seventies made the name internationally famous. It entered use as a given name from that fame rather than from the place — first for boys, then, decisively, for girls in mid-century America. Kim followed as the inevitable clipping and quickly became independent. Kimmy is the third stage: a short form given a softening ending, which is the oldest way English has of making a name affectionate, and the point at which the name stopped needing any of its history.
Meaningscholars disagree
Cyneburg's field
The English place name Kimberley is generally read as a woman's Old English name, Cyneburg, plus leah, a clearing or field — so someone's clearing, with the someone being a name meaning royal fortress. That is the standard reading and it is reconstructed rather than recorded. By the time the word had become a town in South Africa, a surname, a given name, a nickname and then a nickname of a nickname, the Old English field had stopped doing any work at all.
How the name formed
- Kimberley
- Kimberly
- Kim
- Kimmy
Pronouncing Kimmy
KIM-ee
KIM-ee, two syllables, stress at the front, the doubled m keeping the first vowel short. There is no competing reading, and no one has ever hesitated over this name on paper.
Nicknames for Kimmy
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 boys named
- 195922 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1709reached in 1959
- Change vs 1978
- +16.7%7 in 1987, from 6
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.
Kimmys among us
people named Kimmy 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
Kimmy 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
- Completely unambiguous in sound and spelling; nobody asks twice.
- Kim is available as a grown-up short form without changing the name.
- Kimberly is available in the other direction if a formal version is ever needed.
- It reads unmistakably as a nickname, which matters on a document more than in a room.
- Kimmie is equally common as a spelling, so the ending will be written both ways regardless.
- The name is strongly associated with one American generation, and it places a person fairly precisely in time.
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What they receive
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Kimmy
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Kimmys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Kimmy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kimmy in 2025?
- Kimmy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Kimmy with classmates?
- Kimmy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Kenneth#294 · Kevin#221 · Kyle#508 · Keith#800 · Karl#1585 · Kaleb#295 · Kurt#2258 · Kelly#1867
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kimmy? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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