Damasio
Inflected form of the Medieval Latin name Damasius of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Damasio. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Damasio today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Damasio births was 1981 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Damasio. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Damasio. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1981
6 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1981 SSA rank
#5,645
Tracked since 1929
Census
Damasio in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 112 people with the first name Damasio, which placed it at #51,666 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
#51,666
National first-name rank
People counted
112
112 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
82.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Damasio
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damasio is Hispanic at 82.1%. The next largest groups are White (7.1%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Damasio 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 Damasio at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino82.1% · 92
- White7.1% · 8
- Black or African American5.4% · 6
- Two or more races2.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 1
Popularity
Damasio: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Damasio from the 1920s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Damasio 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 Damasio 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 Damasio
The given name Damasio has its origins in the Latin language and culture, with its earliest known usage dating back to ancient Rome. The name is believed to be derived from the Latin word "Damascenus," which means "from Damascus." This connection suggests that the name may have been initially associated with individuals who hailed from the city of Damascus in modern-day Syria.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Damasio can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who lived from around 56 to 120 AD. Tacitus mentions a Roman soldier named Damasio who served under the command of Germanicus during the Roman campaigns in Germania in the early 1st century AD.
During the Middle Ages, the name Damasio was relatively uncommon but not entirely absent. One notable figure bearing the name was Damasio de Frías, a Spanish nobleman and military commander who fought in the Reconquista against the Moors in the 13th century.
In the Renaissance period, the name gained some prominence, particularly in Italy. One of the most famous individuals named Damasio during this time was Damasio Boccadeferro, an Italian philosopher and theologian who lived from 1472 to 1536. Boccadeferro was known for his writings on theological and ethical issues, and he was a prominent figure in the intellectual circles of Renaissance Italy.
Another notable Damasio from history was Damasio Carreras, a Spanish painter who lived from 1573 to 1638. Carreras was a prominent artist in the Baroque period and is known for his religious paintings and frescoes, many of which can still be seen in churches and buildings across Spain.
In more recent centuries, the name Damasio has been relatively rare, but there are still a few notable individuals who have borne the name. One example is Damasio Muñoz, a Colombian writer and poet who lived from 1867 to 1927. Muñoz was a prominent figure in the Colombian literary scene and is considered one of the country's most influential poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Overall, while not a widely popular name throughout history, Damasio has a rich and diverse heritage that spans multiple cultures and time periods. From ancient Roman soldiers to Renaissance philosophers and modern-day writers, the name has been carried by a variety of individuals who have left their mark on the world in various ways.
People
Damasio + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Damasio 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
Damasio: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Damasio?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Damasio 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Damasio a common name?
We classify Damasio as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Damasio most popular?
The single biggest year for Damasio was 1981, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Damasio is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Damasio in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 112 people with the name Damasio, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,666 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 Damasio 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 Damasio?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Damasio appears almost entirely male. Of the 109 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Damasio?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damasio is Hispanic at 82.1%. The next largest groups are White (7.1%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Damasio most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Damasio in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.1% (92 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 Damasio in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Damasio a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Damasio 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 Damasio still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Damasio 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 Damasio 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 Damasio?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.