Kem
Kem was last recorded in 2005, when 6 babies were given it; 1,033 Americans have been recorded with it between 1942 and 2005 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kem by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Kem?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #10,818, in 2005; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
85 babies in 1956, the peak
Kem peaked in 1956, when 85 babies were given it (65 boys, #929 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | under 5 | 6 | #10,818 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 5 | #9,583 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 5 | #9,485 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 6 | #7,448 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 6 | #6,336 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 6 | #5,878 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 5 | #6,879 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 5 | #6,780 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 6 | #5,439 | |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,356 | 5 | #6,361 |
Every recorded year (42)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 5 | #9,986 | 5 | #6,047 |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,520 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 8 | #4,015 | |
| 1973 | 14 | #4,239 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 11 | #3,064 | |
| 1971 | 12 | #4,671 | 10 | #3,262 |
| 1970 | 11 | #4,899 | 10 | #3,173 |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,863 | 10 | #2,964 |
| 1968 | 10 | #4,622 | 19 | #1,870 |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,192 | 16 | #1,998 |
| 1966 | 18 | #2,979 | 13 | #2,284 |
| 1965 | 20 | #2,783 | 25 | #1,575 |
| 1964 | 23 | #2,630 | 27 | #1,523 |
| 1963 | 17 | #3,124 | 30 | #1,441 |
| 1962 | 31 | #2,134 | 24 | #1,647 |
| 1961 | 16 | #3,251 | 37 | #1,309 |
| 1960 | 21 | #2,684 | 26 | #1,605 |
| 1959 | 27 | #2,214 | 34 | #1,348 |
| 1958 | 21 | #2,533 | 44 | #1,164 |
| 1957 | 24 | #2,314 | 51 | #1,068 |
| 1956 | 20 | #2,573 | 65 | #929 |
| 1955 | 14 | #3,157 | 32 | #1,354 |
| 1954 | 14 | #3,086 | 25 | #1,543 |
| 1953 | under 5 | 19 | #1,796 | |
| 1952 | 5 | #5,980 | 16 | #1,975 |
| 1951 | under 5 | 14 | #2,099 | |
| 1950 | under 5 | 9 | #2,674 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 9 | #2,708 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 10 | #2,528 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 13 | #2,207 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 7 | #3,037 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 6 | #3,395 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Kem a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,033 Americans recorded as Kem, 34% are girls and 66% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kem: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kem, and how old are they?
An estimated 808 Americans named Kem and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (78% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 59 and 69. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,163 people named Kem (444 women and girls, 719 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 870 born in the U.S. The Census count is 34% 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,142 babies since 1880, Kem is the most given (90% of them).
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.
More about Kem and names like it
- Compare Kem and CemBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sKem peaked in 1956.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kem since 1910.
- The top names of 1956The year the most babies were named Kem.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Kem alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with KMost given first.