Kimberly

Kimberly started as an English place name — Cyneburga's meadow — and became a town in South Africa, which lent its name in turn to the diamond mines that made Kimberley famous in the 1870s. The name crossed back to America as a first name in the mid-twentieth century and exploded in popularity: Kimberly sat in the U.S. top twenty from 1964 through 1982. It has since eased down but remains firmly in the top 250, carried along by Kim Kardashian, Kimberly Williams, and a generation of women who wore the name through the disco years. Three syllables, bright and brisk.