Prim
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "first" or "delicate".
Name Census estimates that about 216 living Americans carry the first name Prim. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Prim today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prim births was 2017 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prim. 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 Prim with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
216
~ 1 in 1,586,826 Americans
Peak year
2017
26 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,243
Tracked since 2013
Census
Prim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 225 people with the first name Prim, which placed it at #35,641 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
#35,641
National first-name rank
People counted
225
225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prim is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.2%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Prim 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 Prim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.6% · 107
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.2% · 59
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 24
- Black or African American10.2% · 23
- Two or more races5.3% · 12
Popularity
Prim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Prim from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 125 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Prim remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Prim 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 Prim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Prim
The name Prim is derived from the Latin word "primus," meaning "first" or "primary." It is believed to have originated during the Roman Empire, when it was used as a cognomen (a personal name or nickname) to denote someone who was the firstborn child or the most important person in a family or group.
In ancient Roman culture, the concept of primogeniture, or the right of the firstborn son to inherit the family's property and titles, was deeply ingrained. As such, the name Prim carried a certain prestige and was often given to the eldest son in noble or wealthy families.
The earliest recorded use of the name Prim dates back to the 1st century AD, when it appeared in various Roman inscriptions and historical documents. One notable example is Quintus Fabius Primus, a Roman senator and military commander who lived during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Prim remained relatively uncommon in Europe, primarily used by families with Roman ancestry or those who valued classical traditions. However, during the Renaissance period, there was a resurgence of interest in classical literature and culture, and the name Prim experienced a modest revival.
One famous historical figure bearing the name Prim was Jacobus Primus (James I of England, 1566-1625), who united the crowns of England and Scotland and commissioned the King James Bible translation. Another notable figure was Prim Visconti (1552-1592), an Italian architect and engineer who designed several significant buildings in Milan.
In the 19th century, the name Prim gained some popularity, particularly in England and the United States. One notable bearer of the name was Prim Bateman (1801-1868), an English architect and surveyor who designed several churches and public buildings in London.
Another historical figure with the name Prim was Juan Prim y Prats (1814-1870), a Spanish general and statesman who played a crucial role in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, which led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Spain.
In more recent times, the name Prim has remained relatively uncommon, though it has been used occasionally as a given name or as a nickname derived from other names such as Primrose or Primavera.
People
Prim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prim as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Prim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 216 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prim 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 1,586,826 US residents.
Is Prim a common name?
We classify Prim as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 217 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prim most popular?
The single biggest year for Prim was 2017, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prim is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Prim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 225 people with the name Prim, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,641 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 Prim 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 Prim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prim leans strongly female. 198 people counted with this name were female (88.0%), compared with 27 male bearers (12.0%). 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 Prim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prim is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.2%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Prim most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Prim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (107 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 Prim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prim a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Prim in the SSA data are female. 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 Prim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prim 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 Prim 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 share the name Prim?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.