Kimo
Masculine · “One who follows”
Kimo is the Hawaiian James, and the two names do not sound remotely alike — which is not a corruption but the necessary result of a language with thirteen letters rebuilding a name from the outside.
How old is the name Kimo?
Kimo first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Kimo alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 800 people named Kimo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kimo most popular?
Kimo peaked in 1972, reaching #1928 nationally. See the whole 1972 chart.
Where it comes from
From James to Kimo
The story of Kimo
Hawaiian has eight consonants and five vowels, no consonant clusters at all, and every syllable must end in a vowel. A borrowed name therefore cannot simply be spelled differently — it has to be rebuilt: unavailable consonants are replaced with the nearest ones the language has, clusters are broken up with vowels, and final consonants get a vowel added. James becomes Kimo. Mary becomes Malia. Elizabeth becomes Elikapeka. The results look nothing like the originals and are entirely regular: a Hawaiian speaker can predict them, and so can anyone who knows the rules. What looks like a different name is the same name obeying a different set of laws.
Meaningscholars disagree
One who follows, or supplants
The meaning belongs to James, which is the same name as Jacob, and the Hebrew original is explained in its own text by wordplay rather than etymology. The Hawaiian form carries the name rather than the sound.
How the name formed
- James
- Kimo
Related forms: Kimo
Pronouncing Kimo
KEE-moh
Two syllables, both vowels pure. Hawaiian stress falls on the second-to-last syllable, which is the first here.
Nicknames for Kimo
Limited
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
- 1949
- Most boys named
- 198024 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1928reached in 1972
- Change vs 2022
- +14.3%8 in 2024, from 7
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.
Kimo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kimo in Hawaiian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Kimos among us
people named Kimo 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
Kimo 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
- It is short, warm and impossible to mispronounce badly.
- It carries a genuine Hawaiian form rather than a borrowed look.
- The name behind it is among the most widely used in the world.
- The connection to James has to be explained; nobody will guess it.
- The obvious short form reads as a woman's name in the mainland United States.
- It is strongly marked as Hawaiian, which is either the point or a consideration.
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Kimo
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Kimos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Kimo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kimo in 2025?
- Kimo is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Kimo with classmates?
- Kimo 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 Kimo? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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