Name Awesome

Kamau

#7,942 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning uncertain in the cited reference

Kamau has been given to 931 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #7,942 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1995, with 34 recorded.

Babies named Kamau, 2025

1 in 332,000

Kamau over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kamau: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning uncertain in the cited reference

Kikuyu

What Kamau means

Kamau is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Kamau is used in Kikuyu and Swahili. Its origins include Kikuyu.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Kikuyu, Kamau is pronounced /kà.mà.úꜜ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 931 boys were recorded with the name Kamau between 1971 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 34 in 1995; its best national rank was #1,720 in 1973.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,293 in 2020 to #7,942 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,514 in 2015 to #7,942 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kamau?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 171,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#7,942
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kamau sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kamau. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kamaus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kamau was born before 1995 — so the typical Kamau is around 30 today.

Median birth year
1995
About 30 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
26.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
35.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
931
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 26.4% of all recorded uses (246).

Is Kamau rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−442
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+3,351
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,428
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.77×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
29.4%
Peak was 1995 (34)
Years since peak
30
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
45.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,720
1973

Spellings of Kamau

Kamau is not the most common spelling — Lamar is, with 24.5% against Kamau's 0.67%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kamau is used

Across 1910–2025, Kamau was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 599,747 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Georgia1 in —
  3. 3Maryland1 in —
  4. 4Michigan1 in —
  5. 5New York1 in —
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Kamau has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kamau around the world

Where Kamau ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1998–2017
    #4,812
    in 2017

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Kamau by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#7,942
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 3,351
Best rank ever
#1,720
1973
Peak year
1995
34 that year
First recorded
1971
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
931
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Kamau

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KamelKamarKamenKamilKamaniKamonKamrinKamirKamalKamdonKamKamerynKamauriKamaziKamranKamiloKamoniKamaiKamdynKamoriKamareKamrenKamareeKamryn

Sibling names for Kamau

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kamau

Top names of 1995, Kamau's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1973Boys' names starting with KSwahili Boy Names