Damaso
Masculine name of Greek origin meaning "to tame" or "to subdue".
Name Census estimates that about 257 living Americans carry the first name Damaso. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Damaso today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Damaso births was 1983 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Damaso. 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
257
~ 1 in 1,333,674 Americans
Peak year
1983
10 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,191
Tracked since 1953
Census
Damaso in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 996 people with the first name Damaso, which placed it at #12,471 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
#12,471
National first-name rank
People counted
996
996 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Damaso
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damaso is Hispanic at 92.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.2%) and White (1.2%). 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 Damaso 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 Damaso at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.9% · 925
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 52
- White1.2% · 12
- Black or African American0.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Damaso: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Damaso from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 61 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Damaso 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 Damaso during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Damasos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Damaso
The name Damaso originates from the Greek language and culture, with its roots traceable back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "damazo," which means "to tame" or "to subdue." This suggests that the name was initially associated with someone who had the ability to tame or control others or perhaps even animals.
In the early centuries of the Christian era, the name Damaso gained prominence due to its association with Saint Damasus I, who served as the Bishop of Rome (Pope) from 366 to 384 AD. He is remembered for his efforts in establishing the primacy of the Roman See and for commissioning the first official Latin version of the Bible, known as the Vulgate.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Damaso can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who mentioned a Roman soldier named Damasus who served under the Emperor Julian the Apostate in the 4th century AD.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Damaso. One such figure was Damaso Antonio Larrañaga (1771-1848), a Uruguayan priest, naturalist, and philosopher who contributed significantly to the study of botany and zoology in South America.
Another prominent figure was Damaso Dávila (1492-1576), a Spanish navigator and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expeditions to Mexico and participated in the conquest of the Aztec Empire.
In the realm of literature, Damaso Alonso (1898-1990) was a renowned Spanish poet, literary critic, and professor who played a pivotal role in the development of the "Generation of '27" movement in Spanish poetry.
In the field of music, Damaso Perez Prado (1916-1989), a Cuban musician and bandleader, gained international fame as the "King of Mambo" and was instrumental in popularizing the mambo dance craze in the 1950s.
Lastly, Damaso Berenguer y Pardiñas (1753-1826) was a Spanish military officer and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Spain during the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Damaso, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and diverse origins.
People
Damaso + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Damaso 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
Damaso: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Damaso?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 257 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Damaso 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 1,333,674 US residents.
Is Damaso a common name?
We classify Damaso as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 275 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Damaso most popular?
The single biggest year for Damaso was 1983, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Damaso is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Damaso in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 996 people with the name Damaso, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,471 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 Damaso 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 Damaso?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Damaso appears almost entirely male. Of the 997 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 Damaso?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damaso is Hispanic at 92.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.2%) and White (1.2%). 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 Damaso most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Damaso in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.9% (925 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 Damaso in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Damaso a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Damaso 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 Damaso still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Damaso 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 Damaso 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 common is the name Damaso?
See how many people share the name Damaso on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.