Kamau

Popularity Trends

The name Kamau is the #6,830 most popular name of all time in the U.S. on a gender-neutral basis, with a total of 909 recorded births since 1971. This represents the 11.7% percentile of name popularity (more popular than 11.7% of all names). For boys, it ranks #3,681 (19.7% percentile) for all time with 909 births since 1971.

Kamau first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1971 (first recorded for boys in 1971).

For boys, Kamau reached its peak popularity in 1998, achieving the 3.7% percentile (ranked #766) with 17 births per million. The name was most common in 1977, with 17 births per million (ranked 3.6% percentile). Since reaching a low point around 2020, the popularity of this name for boys has been increasing. Currently, Kamau ranks #906 for boys (0.5% percentile) with 5 births per million, which is 32.2% of its peak share of births.

This chart shows the total number of births per million babies in each year for the name "Kamau".

1971 2023 19712023

Key Statistics

Total Births

909

Peak Births

Peak Year

1998

First Recorded

1971

Peak Percentile

3.7%

Current Percentile

0.5%

Peak Rank

#766

Current Rank

#906

Male statistics

Names with Similar Spellings

These similar-looking names have spellings that are closest to the spelling of "Kamau", in the sense that there are the fewest number of letter differences between the two spellings. These names exclude other spelling variations of this name. View all variations of Kamau.

Names with Correlated Trends

These 12 names have popularity trends that correlate most strongly with the name Kamau's popularity from 1968 to 2023 on a gender-neutral basis. Names may rise and fall in popularity for a variety of reasons, but correlations often reflect either changes in naming fashion or demographic shifts.

The correlation calculations in the table below ignore absolute popularity to show you names that move in similar directions as the name Kamau at the same time. They also correct for changes in the overall birth rate over time. The 0-100% trend values are calculated by dividing each name's gender-neutral births per million by the peak births per million for that name.

The 12 names most strongly correlated to Kamau range from Tarik at 92.0% correlation to Isela at 88.7% correlation, with an average correlation level of 90.1%. The most popular of these 12 most correlated names is Kenya with 27.3K births (92% girls) and the least popular is Keno with 597 births (100% boys).

Kamau's share of births peaked at 17 births per million for boys in 1998. It reached its lowest point of 2.5 births per million (15% of peak) in 2016. In 2023, the most recent period with data, the name Kamau had 5.5 births per million, 32% of its peak popularity.

This chart shows how each name's popularity has changed over time relative to its peak (100%).

Tarik

4,121

92.05% (very strong)

Kwesi

800

91.84% (very strong)

Kenya

27.3k

91.10% (very strong)

Malika

4,876

91.01% (very strong)

Akil

2,092

89.88% (very strong)

Keno

597

89.84% (very strong)

Chenoa

1,713

89.68% (very strong)

Damion

16.8k

89.57% (very strong)

Rasheed

4,805

89.27% (very strong)

Abdul

6,353

89.22% (very strong)

Anel

2,125

89.05% (very strong)

Isela

5,715

88.73% (very strong)

About this table: Correlation values are shown as percentages from 0% to 100%, with each value accompanied by its strength (very weak to very strong). Higher percentages and stronger correlations indicate names that rise and fall together more closely in popularity. The strength labels are color-coded from gray (very weak) to green (very strong). The Trend column visualizes how each name's popularity has changed over time relative to its peak. Absolute correlation values are shown for simplicity (all correlations here are positive). The Total Births column is color-coded by gender distribution - blue shades for predominantly male names and red shades for predominantly female names, with purple hues indicating a more balanced gender distribution.

How to Pronounce Kamau

Our model has identified 5 different pronunciations for the name Kamau. Click the play button under each pronunciation to hear it spoken aloud.

Our model is 35.3% confident that Kamau is pronounced as kah-MOW, which has 2 syllables. The next most likely pronunciation is kuh-MOW, at 32.4% confidence, with 2 syllables.

35.3%

32.4%

14.7%

8.8%

8.8%

kah-MOW (2 syllables)

35.3% confidence

K AA0 M AW1

kuh-MOW (2 syllables)

32.4% confidence

K AH0 M AW1

KAH-moh (2 syllables)

14.7% confidence

K AA1 M OW0

kah-MAH-ue (3 syllables)

8.8% confidence

K AA0 M AA1 UW0

KAH-mow (2 syllables)

8.8% confidence

K AA1 M AW0

Possible Additional Pronunciations

If none of the pronunciations above sound right to you, could you please check whether any of these related pronunciations should be applied to the name Kamau? These are pronunciations that other similar names use, but which are not currently associated with Kamau. If you think any of these are valid pronunciations for Kamau, please vote using the thumbs up button.

About Pronunciation Data

Our confidence scores estimate the likelihood that a particular pronunciation is the most correct for a given name spelling. These scores are derived from pronunciation dictionaries, manual verification, your feedback, and a fine-tuned large language model trained to generate name pronunciations.

For any given spelling, confidence scores across all identified pronunciations sum to 100%. However, these scores don't account for the possibility of valid pronunciations that our model hasn't identified.

The raw pronunciations shown (like K AA0 M AW1) use the ARPAbet phoneme system, a standardized way to represent English speech sounds. Each symbol represents a distinct sound in American English. Visit the ARPAbet Wikipedia page to learn more about these phonetic symbols.

Pronunciation audio is generated by an open source text to speech model that has been customized to adhere to pronunciations provided in ARPAbet format, but sometimes pronunciations that differ subtly will sound identical, particularly if the only difference is the level of emphasis on a syllable or a single vowel sound.

Made with ❤️ by Aaron J Becker

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