Kim en · PROPN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- [kʰɪm]
- /kɪm/
Etymology
Clipping of Kimball and Kimberley as a male name, and of Kimberley and Kimberly as a female name.
Meanings
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A unisex given name. ▸ A male given name transferred from the surname.
The half-caste woman who looked after him (she smoked opium, and pretended to keep a second-hand furniture shop by the square where the cheap cabs wait) told the missionaries that she was Kim’s mother’s sister; but his mother had been nursemaid in a colonel's family and had married Kimball O’Hara, a young color-sergeant of the Mavericks, an Irish regiment.
1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, chapter I, in Kim, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC, page 1:
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A unisex given name. ▸ A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1940s and later usage.
It will take some getting used to, a husband named Kim. She has known girls named Kim since she was a squirt in a sunsuit. Quite a few really. Kimberleys and plain Kims.
1991, Don DeLillo, Mao II, Viking, →ISBN, page 16:The use of “Eye of the Tiger” at a rally for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has Survivor’s Jim Peterik “risin’ up to the challenge” – and threatening action.
2015 September 9, Todd Leopold, “Band unhappy with use of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ for Kim Davis”, in CNN, archived from the original on 27 May 2023:Bizarre as was the name she bore, Kim Ravenal always said she was thankful it had been no worse. […] It is no secret that the absurd monosyllable which comprises her given name is made up of the first letters of three states — Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri — in all of which she was, incredibly enough, born.
1926, Edna Ferber, Show Boat, Doubleday, Page & Co, page 1:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kims | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Translations (20)
ca Quim (male given name) · uk Кім (male given name) · sv Kim (female given name) · ru Ким (male given name) · sh Ким (male given name) · be Кім (male given name) · cmn 金 (male given name) · ja キム (male given name) · ru Ким (female given name) · pt Kim (male given name) · sk Kim (male given name) · sk Kim (female given name) · no Kim (male given name) · da Kim (male given name) · mk Ким (male given name) · nl Kim (female given name) · sh Kim (male given name) · sv Kim (male given name) · ar كِيم (male given name) · bg Ким (male given name)