Humanverse

Kemon vs Kemper

American parents have registered 1,899 Kempers since 1880, against 548 Kemons. Kemper is still ahead, with 35 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kemon against Kemper, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kemon Kemper

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 101 years in which either name was published, Kemper for 88 years and Kemon for 13 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Kemon Kemper
Total US births 5481,899
Most in one year 2977
Babies in 2025 1335
Estimated living today 5401,600
Median age today 1915
Peak year 20092009
Best rank 3,639th boys1,990th boys
Rank in 2025 6,446th6,143rd
First recorded 19791912
Girls / boys 0 / 548301 / 1,598

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 Kemons alive today are over 19; half the Kempers are over 15. That is 4 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 Kemper.