MEANING & HISTORY
What does Kimberly mean?
Kimberly is a spelling of Kimberley. The given name is associated with the South African city named after Lord Kimberley, whose title came from an English place name.
This is a chain of place and title references rather than a direct ancient word meaning royal meadow. The y spelling is an established personal-name form and does not add a separate root.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
CebuanoEtymology & source
From English Kimberly.
a female given name from English
Wiktionary: Kimberly (Cebuano) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
Variant spelling of Kimberley.
A unisex given name transferred from the surname, popular in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Wiktionary: Kimberly (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Kimberly
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Kimberly Karlsson
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Kimberly Diaz
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Wikidata
4
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Kimberly Karlsson, Kimberly Diaz
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Kimberly in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Kimberly
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Beverly♂♀From a beaver-related English place name
- Charly♂Variant of Charlie, familiar form of Charles
- Kiara♀Ciara or Chiara form: dark or bright roots
- Kikay♀Kika with ay, from Francisca
- Kike♂Spanish familiar form of Enrique
- Kikoy♂Kiko with oy, from Francisco or Francis
- Kindred♂English kinship or relatedness word
- Kingsley♀Surname from a place-name: king’s wood
What rhymes with Kimberly?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Kimberly further
Follow the sources
- Wikidata given-name item Q524537 — Kimberly (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Kimberly Karlsson (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q524537 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Kimberly Diaz (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q524537 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Kimberly (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Kimberly (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Kimberly (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- Behind the Name: kimberly (opens in a new tab)
Independent onomastic comparison and qualifications to the proposed origin.