Kim
Meaning
gold (金), the most common Korean surname and a real given name too; also an established standalone English name in its own right (from Kipling's novel, and 1950s-70s stars like Kim Novak); one name, two independent lives
The story
Kim leads two entirely separate lives. In Korea it is gold, written 金: the most common surname in the country and a real given name as well. In the English-speaking world it grew up independently, first as the boy hero of Kipling's 1901 novel Kim, then as a girl's name in its own right. American parents took to it in the postwar years, and its climb through the 1950s, when Kim Novak was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, has a timing that is hard to ignore. The name crested across the 1950s and 1960s, held strong through the 1970s, then eased down the way midcentury favorites tend to do. What remains is a name that is short, warm, and unusually well traveled: the same three letters read as gold in Seoul and as a friendly American classic everywhere else.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Kim peaked in the 1950s and the 1960s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
1,162 people · the #7,474 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 166,667 · median age 30
Among people named Kim living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 69 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Kim
Most people given the name Kim in the United States were born between 1950 and 1969. The Kim you meet today is most often in her 50s or 60s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Kim deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Kim truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Kim fits with your family’s names and surname.
The meeting point
Three unrelated parents: and the one everyone assumes is not a given name at all.
Kimberly · the English short form of Kimberly, from Lord Kimberley's town
Joachim · a Scandinavian masculine short form of Joachim, Hebrew "raised by Yahweh"
Kim · a Vietnamese feminine given name, 金, "gold"
And the famous one: Korean Kim 김 is a SURNAME, carried by a fifth of South Korea: not a given name. The assumption everyone makes is the one that breaks.
Where Kim travels
Vietnamese American · gold, golden (shared comfortably with the Western name Kim; many Vietnamese American women use it as their sole legal first name)
Keep exploring
Dual-language baby names · Vietnamese American baby names · Vietnamese baby names · Short names
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