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    The surname Kemp

    A Dutch occupational surname, carried by 46,146 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /kɛmp/ 1 syllable Soundex K510

    Kemp: #753 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Kemp #753, 46,146 people Kemp: #753 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Kemp #753, 46,146 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kemp is more common than 99.5% of them.

    Origin

    Dutch origin

    * As an English, Scottish, Dutch, and north/Low German surname, from the noun kemp (“champion, warrior”), similar to Kampf. * As a Dutch and West Flemish occupational surname, from Middle Dutch canep (“hemp”) (see modern hennep). * Also as a Dutch surname Van der Kemp, Brabantine variant of Van der Kamp, from van (“of”) + der (“the”) + kamp (“camp”), related to the first sense above. The place names are from the surname.

    Kemp is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

    One of 167 Dutch surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 46,146 people named Kemp in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 6,691 Americans. That is up 3.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 44,701.

    #753
    rank among US surnames
    46,146
    people in 2010
    16
    per 100,000 Americans
    +3.2%
    change since 2000 (was #698)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #744MacDonald46,7176,609
    #745Solomon46,5346,635
    #746Guevara46,4546,646
    #747Stafford46,3946,655
    #748English46,3936,655
    #749Hurst46,2446,676
    #750Woodard46,2406,677

    Who is named Kemp

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    72% of people named Kemp identified as white (not Hispanic), 23% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 72%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 23%
    • Two or more races 2.2%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Kemps

    18 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Brian Kemp
      American politician (born 1963)
    • Shawn Kemp
      American basketball player (born 1969)
    • Jack Kemp
      American football player and politician (1935–2009)
    • Troy Kemp
      Bahamian high jumper, born 1966
    • Jenny Kemp
      American swimmer, born 1955
    • Elizabeth Kemp
      American actress, 1951–2017
    • Martin Kemp
      British art historian, born 1942
    • Matty Kemp
      Actor (1907-1999)
    • Hal Kemp
      American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, and arranger (1904–1940
    • Kemp Muhl
      American musician and model, born 1987
    • Taylor Kemp
      American soccer player (born 1990)
    • David Kemp
      Australian cyclist, born 1984

    Notable Kemps come mostly from the United States (11), the United Kingdom (3) and The Bahamas (2).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Kemp

    Kemp has the Soundex code K510, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K510.

    Other Dutch surnames

    All 167 Dutch surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Kemp come from?
    * As an English, Scottish, Dutch, and north/Low German surname, from the noun kemp (“champion, warrior”), similar to Kampf. * As a Dutch and West Flemish occupational surname, from Middle Dutch canep (“hemp”) (see modern hennep). * Also as a Dutch surname Van der Kemp, Brabantine variant of Van…
    How common is the surname Kemp?
    46,146 people in the United States had the surname Kemp in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 6,691 Americans. It ranked 753rd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Kemp?
    In the 2010 Census, 72% of people named Kemp identified as white (not Hispanic), and 23% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Kemp?
    Brian Kemp, American politician (born 1963), followed by Shawn Kemp.
    Where is the surname Kemp most common?
    Wikidata records people named Kemp in the United States, the United Kingdom and The Bahamas and 1 other country.
    How do you pronounce Kemp?
    Kemp is /kɛmp/, one syllable.
    What type of surname is Kemp?
    Kemp is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
    Is the surname Kemp getting more or less common?
    More common. 44,701 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 46,146 in 2010, up 3.2%.