Damen
A masculine name of Persian origin meaning "to master or rule".
Name Census estimates that about 2,368 living Americans carry the first name Damen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Damen today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Damen births was 2003 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Damen. 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
2.4K
~ 1 in 144,744 Americans
Peak year
2003
74 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,321
Tracked since 1963
Census
Damen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,983 people with the first name Damen, which placed it at #7,625 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
#7,625
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,983 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Damen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damen is White at 59.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Hispanic (11.1%). 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 Damen 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 Damen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.8% · 1,185
- Black or African American18.1% · 358
- Hispanic or Latino11.1% · 221
- Two or more races7.2% · 142
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 34
Popularity
Damen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Damen 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 590 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
Damen 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 Damen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Damens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Illinois, California, New York recorded the most babies named Damen, while Utah, Ohio, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Damen
The name Damen has its roots in the Dutch language, originating from the Low Countries region of northwestern Europe during the medieval period. It is believed to be derived from the Old Dutch word "damme," meaning "lady" or "woman." This term likely evolved from an earlier Germanic root word related to the concept of taming or subduing, suggesting a connection to the domesticated or civilized nature of women in society at the time.
In the Netherlands and neighboring regions, the name Damen gained popularity as a masculine given name, perhaps as a way to honor or pay respect to women or the feminine ideal. Some scholars also suggest a possible link to the name's meaning and the Dutch term for a chess piece, "dame" (queen), implying strength, intelligence, and strategic acumen.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Damen can be found in the 14th-century Dutch manuscript "Rijmbijbel" (Rhymed Bible), which mentions a character named Damen van Leyde. This text, written in Middle Dutch, provides a poetic retelling of biblical stories and serves as an early example of the name's usage.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Damen. In the 16th century, Damen Pietersz de Biesen (1505-1590) was a Dutch painter and artist known for his religious works and portraits. Another notable figure was Damen Helmichsz (1550-1623), a Dutch naval officer and explorer who played a role in the establishment of Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia.
Moving into the 17th century, Damen Houttuyn (1615-1675) was a Dutch physician and botanist who made significant contributions to the study of plant life in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). During the same period, Damen Janszoon van Twiller (1600-1658) served as the director-general of the Dutch West India Company and played a pivotal role in the governance of the Dutch colony of New Netherland (now part of New York).
In more recent times, Damen van den Hoogenhof (1901-1968) was a Dutch resistance fighter who actively opposed the Nazi occupation during World War II, risking his life to aid Allied forces and protect Jewish citizens.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the name Damen, reflecting its long-standing presence and cultural significance in the Netherlands and the broader Dutch-speaking world.
People
Damen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Damen 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
Damen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Damen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,368 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Damen 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 144,744 US residents.
Is Damen a common name?
We classify Damen as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,444 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Damen most popular?
The single biggest year for Damen was 2003, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Damen is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Damen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,983 people with the name Damen, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,625 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 Damen 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 Damen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Damen appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,987 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Damen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damen is White at 59.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Hispanic (11.1%). 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 Damen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Damen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.8% (1,185 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 Damen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Damen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Damen 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 Damen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Damen 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 Damen 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 have the name Damen?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Damen, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.