Caymen
Small alligator-like reptile native to Central America's Caribbean coast.
Name Census estimates that about 294 living Americans carry the first name Caymen. It is a predominantly male name (94.0% of registrations). The average person named Caymen today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caymen births was 2006 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caymen. 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
294
~ 1 in 1,165,831 Americans
Peak year
2006
22 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,546
Tracked since 1992
Census
Caymen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 308 people with the first name Caymen, which placed it at #28,952 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
#28,952
National first-name rank
People counted
308
308 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caymen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caymen is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Black (19.8%) and Hispanic (12.3%). 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 Caymen 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 Caymen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.8% · 172
- Black or African American19.8% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino12.3% · 38
- Two or more races10.4% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Caymen
Caymen leans heavily male at 94.0% of total registrations, but 18 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Caymen as a male name
- Ranked #12,546 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1998 (16 births)
Caymen as a female name
- Ranked #15,626 in 2009
- 6 female births in 2009
- Peak: 2006 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caymen leans strongly male. 242 people counted with this name were male (80.9%), compared with 57 female bearers (19.1%).
Popularity
Caymen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caymen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 144 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caymen 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 Caymen 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 Caymen
The given name Caymen is believed to have originated from the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The name is thought to be derived from the Carib word "caymanas," which referred to a type of crocodilian reptile native to the region.
The first recorded use of the name Caymen can be traced back to the early 16th century, when Spanish explorers and settlers arrived in the Cayman Islands. They encountered the indigenous Carib people and adopted the word "caymanas" to refer to the islands and their inhabitants.
One of the earliest known references to the name Caymen can be found in the writings of Spanish historian Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, who documented his travels in the Caribbean in the 1520s. In his work, "Historia General y Natural de las Indias," he mentions the "Islas Caymanas" and the reptiles that gave the islands their name.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Caymen. One of the earliest recorded examples is Caymen Trenchard, an English sailor and explorer who is believed to have visited the Cayman Islands in the late 16th century. Another notable figure was Caymen Brodrick (1619-1688), an English politician and judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
In the 19th century, Caymen Kendall (1789-1867) was a prominent American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Caymen Gorham (1822-1891) was an English-born American businessman and philanthropist who made significant contributions to the city of Boston.
More recently, Caymen Batchelor (1920-2003) was a British actor and playwright known for his roles in television and film. He was also a renowned author, with several published works to his name.
While the name Caymen is not as common as some other given names, it has a rich history and cultural significance, particularly in the Caribbean region. Its origins can be traced back to the indigenous Carib people and their language, serving as a testament to the diverse cultural influences that have shaped the naming traditions of various parts of the world.
People
Caymen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caymen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caymen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caymen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 294 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caymen 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 1,165,831 US residents.
Is Caymen a common name?
We classify Caymen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 298 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caymen most popular?
The single biggest year for Caymen was 2006, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caymen is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caymen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 308 people with the name Caymen, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,952 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 Caymen 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 Caymen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caymen leans strongly male. 242 people counted with this name were male (80.9%), compared with 57 female bearers (19.1%). 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 Caymen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caymen is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Black (19.8%) and Hispanic (12.3%). 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 Caymen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caymen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.8% (172 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 Caymen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caymen a male name?
Yes, 94.0% of people registered as Caymen 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 Caymen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caymen 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 Caymen 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 Caymen?
You can see how many Americans are named Caymen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.