Diamond
A precious gemstone symbolizing strength, clarity and brilliance.
Name Census estimates that about 34,932 living Americans carry the first name Diamond. It is a predominantly female name (93.0% of registrations). The average person named Diamond today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Diamond births was 1999 (2,210 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Diamond. 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 Diamond with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
35K
~ 1 in 9,812 Americans
Peak year
1999
2,210 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,612
Tracked since 1897
Census
Diamond in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 27,528 people with the first name Diamond, which placed it at #1,327 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
#1,327
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
27,528 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Diamond
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Diamond is Black at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.9%) and White (8.1%). 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 Diamond 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 Diamond at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American72.3% · 19,898
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 3,287
- White8.1% · 2,225
- Two or more races5.3% · 1,463
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 436
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 219
Gender
Gender distribution for Diamond
Diamond leans heavily female at 93.0% of total registrations, but 2,527 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Diamond as a male name
- Ranked #2,443 in 2024
- 56 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (101 births)
Diamond as a female name
- Ranked #1,612 in 2024
- 129 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (2,160 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Diamond leans strongly female. 25,949 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 1,585 male bearers (5.8%).
Popularity
Diamond: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Diamond from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 15,987 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Diamond 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 Diamond during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Diamonds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Diamond, while West Virginia, South Dakota, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 768 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Diamond
The name Diamond is an English word name derived from the precious gemstone of the same name. The word diamond comes from the ancient Greek word "adamas," which means "invincible" or "unbreakable." This likely refers to the hardness and durability of the diamond gemstone.
As a given name, Diamond is a relatively modern coinage, with its earliest usage dating back to the late 19th century. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Diamond was Diamond Bessie Moore, an American criminal and saloon owner who lived from 1873 to 1959.
Another notable historical figure with the name Diamond was Diamond Jim Brady, an American businessman and jeweler known for his lavish lifestyle and love of diamonds. He lived from 1856 to 1917 and was famous for wearing extravagant diamond-studded jewelry.
In the 20th century, the name Diamond gained popularity as a unisex name, particularly among African American communities. One famous bearer of the name was Diamond Lil, a stage name used by American actress Mae West, who lived from 1893 to 1980.
Another notable Diamond was Diamond Teeth Mary, the nickname of Mary Smith, an African American woman who lived from 1904 to 1994 and was known for her diamond-studded teeth.
In more recent times, the name Diamond has been given to several high-profile individuals, including Diamond Dallas Page, an American professional wrestler and actor born in 1956, and Diamond Brown, an American singer and actress born in 1981.
While the name Diamond is not directly referenced in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its association with the precious gemstone and its connotations of strength, durability, and value have contributed to its appeal as a given name.
People
Diamond + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Diamond 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
Diamond: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Diamond?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 34,932 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Diamond 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 9,812 US residents.
Is Diamond a common name?
We classify Diamond as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36,162 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Diamond most popular?
The single biggest year for Diamond was 1999, when 2,210 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Diamond is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Diamond in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 27,528 people with the name Diamond, or 9.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,327 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 Diamond 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 Diamond?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Diamond leans strongly female. 25,949 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 1,585 male bearers (5.8%). 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 Diamond?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Diamond is Black at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.9%) and White (8.1%). 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 Diamond most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Diamond in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (19,898 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 Diamond in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Diamond a female name?
Yes, 93.0% of people registered as Diamond 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 Diamond still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Diamond 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 Diamond 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 Diamond?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.