Kem
Kem reached its high-water mark in 1956 at number 924, and has been recorded 1,033 times in all. It is given to both boys and girls. It has not appeared in the national data since 2005. About 820 Kems are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 64.
Popularity, 1880–2025
girls named Kem boys named Kem
Girls and boys called Kem
years more girls than boys years more boys than girls
Both, throughout, without either side ever taking it over: 353 girls and 680 boys in all, and in 1968 the split was 10 to 19.
The girls’ share of each year’s babies of the name, in the 14 years in which at least 25 babies got it. The line touches the middle more often than there are crossings marked: a year or two on the other side is not a name changing hands, and only a move that holds for 5 counted years and reaches 60/40 is recorded as one. All 581 names that changed sex.
By the numbers
- Total US births
- 1,033
- Estimated living today
- 820
- Median age today
- 64
- Peak year
- 1956
- Best rank
- 924th
- Rank in 2025
- unranked
- First recorded
- 1942
- Girls / boys
- 353 / 680
How old the living Kems are
born that year still alive today
Of the 1,033 babies given the name since 1942, about 820 are alive — 79 in every hundred. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1961 and half after.
An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.
Where Kem is most common
Relative to how many babies each state records, Kem is most concentrated in Texas (6.5×).
Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.
Names of 1956
The most popular boys’ names the year Kem peaked:
Related names
Kem against another name
Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.
Try it on yourself
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.