Humanverse

Kem vs Kemoni

American parents have registered 1,033 Kems since 1880, against 842 Kemonis. But in 2025 it was Kemoni that was commoner, 40 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kem against Kemoni, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kem Kemoni

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 70 years in which either name was published, Kem for 41 years and Kemoni for 29 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Kem Kemoni
Total US births 1,033842
Most in one year 8553
Babies in 2025 under 540
Estimated living today 820840
Median age today 6411
Peak year 19562010
Best rank 924th boys5,247th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked6,116th
First recorded 19421997
Girls / boys 353 / 680440 / 402

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kems alive today are over 64; half the Kemonis are over 11. That is 53 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kem and Kemoni.