Humanverse

Kemon vs Kemp

American parents have registered 1,306 Kemps since 1880, against 548 Kemons. Kemp is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kemon against Kemp, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kemon Kemp

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 112 years in which either name was published, Kemp for 85 years and Kemon for 27 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Kemon Kemp
Total US births 5481,306
Most in one year 2931
Babies in 2025 1320
Estimated living today 540850
Median age today 1947
Peak year 20091957
Best rank 3,639th boys1,411th boys
Rank in 2025 6,446th4,857th
First recorded 19791898
Girls / boys 0 / 5480 / 1,306

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 Kemps alive today are over 47; half the Kemons are over 19. That is 28 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: Kemon and Kemp.