Humanverse

Kimbella vs Kimberley

American parents have registered 38,278 Kimberleys since 1880, against 362 Kimbellas. Kimberley is still ahead, with 21 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kimbella against Kimberley, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kimbella Kimberley

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 84 years in which either name was published, Kimberley for 80 years and Kimbella for 4 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Kimbella Kimberley
Total US births 36238,278
Most in one year 522,008
Babies in 2025 621
Estimated living today 36035,000
Median age today 856
Peak year 20121967
Best rank 3,169th girls166th girls
Rank in 2025 13,208th5,722nd
First recorded 20121941
Girls / boys 362 / 038,043 / 235

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 Kimberleys alive today are over 56; half the Kimbellas are over 8. That is 48 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: Kimbella and Kimberley.