Damara
A feminine name of African origin relating to the Damara people.
Name Census estimates that about 981 living Americans carry the first name Damara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Damara today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Damara births was 2004 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Damara. 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
981
~ 1 in 349,393 Americans
Peak year
2004
48 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,154
Tracked since 1962
Popularity
Damara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Damara from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 252 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
Damara 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 Damara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Damaras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Damara, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Damara
The name Damara has its roots in the Khoekhoe language, which is spoken by the Nama people of Namibia and parts of South Africa. The Nama are an ethnic group of the Khoikhoi people, who have inhabited these regions for centuries. The name Damara is believed to derive from the Khoekhoe word "dama," meaning "water" or "to quench thirst."
In the late 18th century, the Nama people were often referred to as the "Damara" by European explorers and settlers in the region. This term was initially applied to the Nama living in central Namibia, but it eventually became a general term for various Khoekhoe groups in the area.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Damara can be found in the writings of German explorer and naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein, who traveled through parts of southern Africa in the early 19th century. In his work "Reisen im südlichen Afrika," published in 1811, Lichtenstein described the Damara people and their way of life.
The name Damara has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history, including Damara Siqwana (c. 1880-1971), a South African activist and community leader who played a significant role in the struggle against apartheid. Another prominent figure was Damara Hindjou (1930-1993), a Namibian writer and teacher who contributed to the preservation of the Nama language and culture.
In the field of archaeology, Damara Mustonen (1881-1949) was a Finnish archaeologist and ethnographer known for her research on the Sami people of northern Scandinavia. Meanwhile, Damara Kubisch (1835-1924) was a German painter and illustrator who produced works depicting scenes from Greek mythology and literature.
Lastly, Damara Baird (1938-2002) was an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and television shows throughout her career.
People
Damara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Damara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Damara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Damara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 981 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Damara 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 349,393 US residents.
Is Damara a common name?
We classify Damara as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,020 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Damara most popular?
The single biggest year for Damara was 2004, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Damara is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Damara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Damara 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.
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.