Humanverse

Kem vs Kemora

American parents have registered 1,033 Kems since 1880, against 687 Kemoras. But in 2025 it was Kemora that was commoner, 16 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kem against Kemora, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kem Kemora

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 66 years in which either name was published, Kem for 41 years and Kemora for 25 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Kem Kemora
Total US births 1,033687
Most in one year 8567
Babies in 2025 under 516
Estimated living today 820680
Median age today 6414
Peak year 19562008
Best rank 924th boys2,718th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked6,838th
First recorded 19422000
Girls / boys 353 / 680687 / 0

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 Kems alive today are over 64; half the Kemoras are over 14. That is 50 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kem and Kemora.