Kimberly
/ˈkɪm.bər.li/noun
A given name and surname derived from English place names, especially Kimberley in England and South Africa.
Did you know?Kimberley, South Africa—whose name helped popularize Kimberly as a first name—became famous for the 19th-century diamond rush and the enormous Kimberley Mine.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
Germanic
*kuningaz / *burgz
“Royal ruler; fortified place—ancestral elements related to the name’s Old English components”
Old English
Old English
Cyneburg + lēah
“A personal name meaning “royal fortress” combined with lēah, “woodland clearing””
11th–12th Century
Old English
Chinemerlei / Chinebaldesleia
“Early recorded place-name forms associated with Kimberley in Nottinghamshire, referring to a clearing connected with a personal name”
Medieval English
Middle English
Kimberley / Kimberlegh
“Developing English place-name forms; spelling and pronunciation gradually shifted toward Kimberley”
1870s
English
Kimberley
“The South African diamond-mining city named for the British Earl of Kimberley”
Modern English
English
Kimberly
“A given name and surname, commonly used as a spelling variant of Kimberley”