Kama
Kama was last recorded in 2012, when 6 babies were given it; 710 Americans have been recorded with it between 1954 and 2012 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kama by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kama mean?
Wiktionary, Hawaiian section
Kama is “a male or (sometimes) female given name from Hawaiian” Its etymology gives the sense “child, person” (kama).
kama (“child, person”). Often a short form of compound names containing this word.
/ˈka.ma/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Hawaiian section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kama?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,871, in 2012; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
39 babies in 1970, the peak
Kama peaked in 1970, when 39 girls were given it, #2,097 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6 | #15,871 | 3.4 |
| 2009 | 6 | #16,183 | 3.3 |
| 2005 | 6 | #15,412 | 3.2 |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,141 | 4.4 |
| 2003 | 8 | #11,834 | 4.4 |
| 2002 | 11 | #9,134 | 6.1 |
| 2001 | 9 | #10,518 | 5.0 |
| 2000 | 15 | #6,971 | 8.3 |
| 1999 | 14 | #7,011 | 7.9 |
| 1998 | 23 | #4,709 | 13.0 |
Every recorded year (49)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 6 | #12,846 | 3.4 |
| 1996 | 5 | #14,546 | 2.9 |
| 1995 | 5 | #14,455 | 2.8 |
| 1994 | 9 | #9,171 | 5.0 |
| 1993 | 5 | #14,504 | 2.8 |
| 1991 | 8 | #9,723 | 4.3 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,158 | 5.3 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,479 | 3.3 |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,985 | 3.4 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,649 | 5.2 |
| 1986 | 13 | #5,577 | 7.6 |
| 1985 | 10 | #6,666 | 5.8 |
| 1984 | 15 | #4,833 | 8.9 |
| 1983 | 17 | #4,357 | 10.2 |
| 1982 | 20 | #3,941 | 11.8 |
| 1981 | 21 | #3,788 | 12.6 |
| 1980 | 18 | #4,213 | 10.8 |
| 1979 | 27 | #3,104 | 16.8 |
| 1978 | 27 | #2,970 | 17.6 |
| 1977 | 24 | #3,216 | 15.7 |
| 1976 | 16 | #4,040 | 10.9 |
| 1975 | 32 | #2,484 | 21.9 |
| 1974 | 29 | #2,575 | 19.8 |
| 1973 | 23 | #2,950 | 15.8 |
| 1972 | 37 | #2,111 | 24.3 |
| 1971 | 39 | #2,125 | 23.4 |
| 1970 | 39 | #2,097 | 22.3 |
| 1969 | 25 | #2,667 | 14.8 |
| 1968 | 14 | #3,686 | 8.5 |
| 1967 | 13 | #3,745 | 7.9 |
| 1966 | 13 | #3,642 | 7.7 |
| 1964 | 10 | #4,482 | 5.3 |
| 1963 | 10 | #4,385 | 5.2 |
| 1962 | 8 | #5,072 | 4.1 |
| 1961 | 9 | #4,695 | 4.5 |
| 1960 | 6 | #5,998 | 3.0 |
| 1959 | 9 | #4,452 | 4.4 |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,264 | 2.6 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,429 | 3.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kama a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kama has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 49 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Kama: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kama, and how old are they?
An estimated 668 Americans named Kama and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 39 and 55. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 823 people named Kama (721 women and girls, 102 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 680 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 27,848 babies since 1880, Kama is the eighth most given (2.5% of them). In 2025 none of their 369 babies recorded by SSA was a Kama (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kama
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Kama and names like it
- Compare Kama and KamiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sKama peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kama since 1910.
- Hawaiian namesWiktionary’s origin for Kama: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Kama.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Kama alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with KMost given first.