Kinsey
Feminine · “royal victory”
Kinsey is given to both — 7,818 girls and 295 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Kinsey comes from an Anglo-Saxon man's name that also, quite separately, gave London a district. Cynesige was royal victory, and a farm belonging to his people became Kensington while a family descended from him became Kinsey.
How old is the name Kinsey?
Kinsey first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Kinsey alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 7,700 people named Kinsey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kinsey most popular?
Kinsey peaked in 1998, reaching #835 nationally. Today it ranks #3067, 2,232 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cynesige to Kinsey
The story of Kinsey
Anglo-Saxon personal names were built from a fixed stock of noble-sounding elements — cyne for royal, sige for victory, wulf, beorht, raed — recombined freely, so a family would use the same pieces in different orders across generations. Cynesige is one such combination. Most of these names died at the Conquest, surviving only where they had been caught in a surname or a place-name first. Kinsey is one of the survivors, and it became an American given name for daughters in the twentieth century.
Meaning
royal victory
Old English Cynesige joins cyne, 'royal, kingly', to sige, 'victory' — two admirable nouns set side by side in the ordinary Anglo-Saxon way. The surname Kinsey descends from the personal name directly, without a place in between. The reading is documented, and the same Cynesige stands behind the London place-name Kensington.
How the name formed
- Cynesige
- Kinsey
Pronouncing Kinsey
KIN-zee
Two syllables, stress on the first, the s voiced as a z. There is no ambiguity in the sound at all.
Nicknames for Kinsey
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 2011313 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #835reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −30.3%53 in 2025, from 76
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.
Kinsey in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Kinseys among us
people named Kinsey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 30,326 born in 2025 was named Kinsey
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 Santina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kinsey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Santina climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Santina's path sketches the road Kinsey is walking now.
Kinsey 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 Kinsey is headed
Kinsey 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.
Kinsey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kinsey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Anglo-Saxon origin, which very few modern names can claim.
- Two syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- Kins is a natural short form and an unusual one.
- A well-known mid-century researcher into sexual behavior carries the surname, and the association comes up.
- It is unmistakably a surname and will be read as one on forms.
- Kinsey, Kinsley and Kensey sit close together and get confused.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kinsey
Feminine · #3067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kinseys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,700 people named Kinsey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kinsey in 2025?
- Kinsey ranks #3067 among US girl names in 2025, with 53 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kinsey?
- About 1 in every 30,326 US girls born in 2025 was named Kinsey — 53 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kinsey with classmates?
- Kinsey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kinsey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Xitlaly#3067 · Finlee#3067 · Evany#3067 · Stacey#3067 · Mahnoor#3067 · Fabiola#3067 · Anissa#3067 · Melodi#3067
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kinsey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kinsey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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