Humanverse

Kim vs Kimber

American parents have registered 214,768 Kims since 1880, against 11,666 Kimbers. But in 2025 it was Kimber that was commoner, 293 babies to 40.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kim against Kimber, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kim Kimber

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 113 years in which either name was published, Kim for 88 years and Kimber for 25 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Kim Kimber
Total US births 214,76811,666
Most in one year 13,635524
Babies in 2025 40293
Estimated living today 181,00011,000
Median age today 6313
Peak year 19602016
Best rank 34th girls592nd girls
Rank in 2025 4,172nd936th
First recorded 19121914
Girls / boys 179,817 / 34,95111,215 / 451

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 Kims alive today are over 63; half the Kimbers are over 13. That is 50 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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