Jimmy
A diminutive masculine form of the English name James, of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter".
Name Census estimates that about 199,857 living Americans carry the first name Jimmy. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Jimmy today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jimmy births was 1947 (7,938 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jimmy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jimmy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jimmy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,218 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Jimmy have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
200K
~ 1 in 1,715 Americans
Peak year
1947
7,938 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#859
Tracked since 1883
Census
Jimmy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 173,058 people with the first name Jimmy, which placed it at #323 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#323
National first-name rank
People counted
173K
173,058 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
57.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jimmy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jimmy is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.7%) and Black (14.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jimmy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jimmy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.9% · 101,924
- Hispanic or Latino14.7% · 25,466
- Black or African American14.0% · 24,277
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.2% · 14,244
- Two or more races2.8% · 4,815
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2,332
Gender
Gender distribution for Jimmy
Out of the 290,651 babies given the name Jimmy since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jimmy as a male name
- Ranked #859 in 2024
- 282 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (7,881 births)
Jimmy as a female name
- Ranked #16,631 in 2002
- 5 female births in 2002
- Peak: 1947 (57 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jimmy appears almost entirely male. Of the 173,056 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jimmy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jimmy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 63,888 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jimmy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jimmy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jimmys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Jimmy, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,600 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jimmy
The given name Jimmy is a diminutive or pet form of the name James, which originated from the Late Latin name Iacomus. Iacomus itself derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, meaning "supplanter" or "one who follows". The name James ultimately traces its roots back to the biblical patriarch Jacob, one of the earliest recorded examples of this name.
Jimmy emerged as a nickname for James in English-speaking cultures, likely during the Middle Ages when diminutive forms of names became popular. The earliest recorded use of Jimmy as a given name dates back to the 16th century in England.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Jimmy was Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997), an American actor best known for his roles in classic films such as "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Rear Window". Another notable Jimmy was Jimmy Carter (born 1924), the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981.
In the world of sports, Jimmy Connors (born 1952) was a legendary American tennis player who won eight Grand Slam singles titles during his career. Jimmy Greaves (1940-2021) was an English football (soccer) player and one of the greatest goal-scorers in the history of the sport.
Lastly, Jimmy Hoffa (1913-1975?) was an influential American labor union leader who rose to prominence as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. His disappearance in 1975 remains one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history.
While the name Jimmy has its roots in the biblical name Jacob, it has evolved over time and gained popularity as a standalone given name, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its enduring presence in various fields, from entertainment to politics and sports, attests to its widespread use and cultural significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jimmy
People
Jimmy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jimmy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jimmy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jimmy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 199,857 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jimmy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,715 US residents.
Is Jimmy a common name?
We classify Jimmy as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 290,651 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jimmy most popular?
The single biggest year for Jimmy was 1947, when 7,938 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jimmy is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jimmy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 173,058 people with the name Jimmy, or 57.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #323 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jimmy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jimmy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jimmy appears almost entirely male. Of the 173,056 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jimmy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jimmy is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.7%) and Black (14.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jimmy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jimmy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.9% (101,924 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jimmy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jimmy a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Jimmy in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jimmy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jimmy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jimmy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Jimmy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.