Timika
An unusual feminine name, potentially derived from the Indonesian island Timika.
Name Census estimates that about 925 living Americans carry the first name Timika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Timika today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Timika births was 1976 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Timika. 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.
People living today
925
~ 1 in 370,545 Americans
Peak year
1976
88 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1998 SSA rank
#16,417
Tracked since 1967
Census
Timika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 753 people with the first name Timika, which placed it at #15,320 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
#15,320
National first-name rank
People counted
753
753 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Timika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timika is Black at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and White (3.3%). 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 Timika 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 Timika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.9% · 677
- Two or more races3.7% · 28
- White3.3% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
Popularity
Timika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Timika from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 543 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Timika 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 Timika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Timikas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Timika, while Virginia, Texas, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Timika
The name Timika is believed to have its origins in the Indonesian language. It is derived from the word "timah," which means "tin" in Indonesian. This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with tin mining or metalworking communities in the Indonesian archipelago.
The earliest recorded use of the name Timika can be traced back to the 16th century, during the era of the Sultanate of Ternate, a major maritime power in eastern Indonesia. Historical records from this period mention Timika as a personal name among the nobility and ruling classes of the region.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Timika was a princess from the royal family of Ternate in the late 16th century. She was known for her diplomatic skills and played a crucial role in negotiating alliances between the Sultanate and neighboring kingdoms.
In the 18th century, a famous Indonesian explorer and cartographer named Timika was responsible for mapping several islands in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago. His detailed charts and navigational maps were widely used by sailors and traders during that time.
During the Dutch colonial period in Indonesia, which lasted from the 17th to the 20th century, the name Timika was also found among the local population. One notable example was Timika Suryani, a prominent activist who fought for women's rights and education in the late 19th century.
Another historical figure with the name Timika was a renowned painter from Java in the early 20th century. Her vibrant and distinctive style helped shape the modern Indonesian art movement of that era.
In more recent times, the name Timika has been associated with a city in the province of Papua, Indonesia, which is known for its rich deposits of tin and other minerals. This connection to the city's mining heritage further reinforces the name's ties to the Indonesian language and its meaning related to tin.
People
Timika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Timika as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Timika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Timika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 925 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Timika 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 370,545 US residents.
Is Timika a common name?
We classify Timika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,005 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Timika most popular?
The single biggest year for Timika was 1976, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Timika is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Timika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 753 people with the name Timika, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,320 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 Timika 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 Timika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Timika appears almost entirely female. Of the 758 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Timika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timika is Black at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.7%) and White (3.3%). 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 Timika most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Timika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.9% (677 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 Timika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Timika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Timika 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 Timika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Timika 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 Timika 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 Americans are named Timika?
See how many people share the name Timika on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.