Kem
given name · Latin script
Meaning: cream
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
/ˈkɛm/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Kem is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country.
- PHPhilippines≈1 in 133K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 286K
- GYGuyana1 in 47K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- Sources
- 255 (measured from records)
- 1 in 47K (inferred from the name graph)
1,163 people, 2020
Highest-authority source
Guyana
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
cream
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Kem counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | 1,163 | 1 in 286K | 955 | Kem | 255 |
| PH Philippines | ≈820 est. | ≈1 in 133K | — | Kem | 41 |
| MY Malaysia | ≈580 est. | ≈1 in 56K | — | Kem | 21 |
| NG Nigeria | ≈520 est. | ≈1 in 411K | — | Kem | 24 |
| GB United Kingdom | ≈210 est. | ≈1 in 307K | — | Kem | 62 |
| PG Papua New Guinea | ≈75 est. | ≈1 in 97K | 3 | — | 1 |
| SG Singapore | ≈43 est. | ≈1 in 143K | — | Kem | 14 |
| GY Guyana | 16 | 1 in 47K | 16 | — | 3 |
1,163 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025; PNG Election Results Database — candidate names (1972–2022). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Kem is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In Kurdish, Freshly blooming rosebud, symbol of fresh youth and absolute purity
as a wordkurdi.sh Kurdish personal names dictionary
In trk-pro, illness
as a wordStarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)
In xgn-pro, limits, measure
as a wordStarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)
In sit-pro, cold
as a wordStarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)
In Norwegian Nynorsk, alternative form of kven (“who”)
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Pan Qinb. 1424not in their usual nameMing dynasty politician
- Ke Qinb. 1619not in their usual nameQing dynasty person CBDB=84750
- Hoàng Cầmb. 1920VNnot in their usual nameColonel-general of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), Commander of PAVN forces in the Operation Attleboro 1966
- Hoàng Cầmb. 1922VNnot in their usual nameVietnamese poet, writer and playwright (1922–2010)
- Xu Zhiqinb. 1941CNnot in their usual nameChinese structural geologist
- Tsai Chinb. 1957TWnot in their usual nameTaiwanese singer
- Kym Ngb. 1967SGnot in their usual nameSingaporean actress and television presenter
- Liang Qinb. 1972CNnot in their usual nameChinese fencer
- Ning Qinb. 1992CNnot in their usual nameChinese freestyle skier
- Yu Qinnot in their usual nameQing dynasty painter
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 35 sources across 22 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 955 | #26,847 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 774 | #30,250 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 688 | #31,738 |
| PG Papua New Guinea | PNG Election Results Database — candidate names (1972–2022) | — | 2 | #34 |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 2
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Kem mean, and where does it come from?
- cream Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- How do you pronounce Kem?
- A machine transcription gives /ˈkɛm/ (IPA) for English.
- Is Kem a male or female name?
- Kem is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.
- In which country does Kem have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 1.2 thousand people named Kem, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled kem.
- Where is Kem most common?
- Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Kem is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 47 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.
- How common is the name Kem?
- In the United States, the national register counted 1,163 people named Kem in 2020, about 1 in 286 thousand residents.
What do you want to know about Kem?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/kemThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Kem”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.