Damita
Feminine diminutive form of Dama derived from the Latin word "domina," meaning "lady."
Name Census estimates that about 1,279 living Americans carry the first name Damita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Damita today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Damita births was 1961 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Damita. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Damita with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 267,986 Americans
Peak year
1961
117 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2010 SSA rank
#15,432
Tracked since 1950
Census
Damita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,202 people with the first name Damita, which placed it at #10,888 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
#10,888
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,202 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Damita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damita is Black at 75.7%. The next largest groups are White (11.7%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Damita 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 Damita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.7% · 910
- White11.7% · 141
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 76
- Two or more races4.1% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 13
Popularity
Damita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Damita from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 689 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Damita 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 Damita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Damitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Ohio, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Damita, while Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Damita
The name Damita is a diminutive form of the Spanish name Dama, which means "lady" or "dame." It has its origins in the Latin word "domina," which also means "lady" or "mistress." The name Damita emerged in the Spanish language during the Middle Ages, likely around the 12th or 13th century.
One of the earliest known references to the name Damita can be found in the writings of the Spanish poet and playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635). In his plays and poems, he often used the name Damita as a term of endearment for a young woman of noble or gentle birth.
During the Spanish Golden Age, which spanned the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Damita gained popularity among the upper classes in Spain. It was often used as a nickname or pet name for young girls from aristocratic families.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Damita was Damita de Avila (1515-1589), a Spanish noblewoman and mystic who was a close friend and confidante of St. Teresa of Avila, the renowned Catholic saint and reformer.
In the 18th century, the name Damita made its way to the Americas, where it was adopted by Spanish settlers and their descendants. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in the Americas was Damita Alvarez de Toledo (1716-1798), a wealthy landowner and philanthropist in colonial Mexico.
Another prominent figure with the name Damita was Damita Sánchez (1834-1901), a Cuban poet and activist who played a significant role in the fight for Cuban independence from Spain in the late 19th century.
In the 20th century, the name Damita experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in Latin American countries. One notable bearer of the name was Damita Jo Browne (1928-2007), an American singer and actress who was popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
People
Damita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Damita 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
Damita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Damita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,279 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Damita 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 267,986 US residents.
Is Damita a common name?
We classify Damita as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,507 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Damita most popular?
The single biggest year for Damita was 1961, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Damita is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Damita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,202 people with the name Damita, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,888 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 Damita 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 Damita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Damita appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,206 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Damita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Damita is Black at 75.7%. The next largest groups are White (11.7%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Damita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Damita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (910 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 Damita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Damita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Damita 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.
Is Damita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Damita 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 Damita 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 named Damita?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.