Jimena
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "young lady" or "young maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 16,351 living Americans carry the first name Jimena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jimena today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jimena births was 2016 (830 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jimena. 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 Jimena with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jimena is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 20,962 Americans
Peak year
2016
830 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2004 SSA rank
#536
Tracked since 1966
Census
Jimena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,143 people with the first name Jimena, which placed it at #2,068 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
#2,068
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jimena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jimena is Hispanic at 97.5%. The next largest groups are White (1.9%) and Black (0.3%). 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 Jimena 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 Jimena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.5% · 12,811
- White1.9% · 247
- Black or African American0.3% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 10
- Two or more races0.0% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Jimena
Out of the 16,524 babies given the name Jimena since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jimena as a male name
- Ranked #8,499 in 2004
- 8 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (8 births)
Jimena as a female name
- Ranked #536 in 2024
- 563 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (830 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jimena appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,143 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jimena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jimena from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,231 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jimena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jimena 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 Jimena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jimenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jimena, while Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 417 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jimena
The name Jimena has its origins in the medieval Spanish language, derived from the Mozarabic personal name Semena. This name is thought to be a compound of the Arabic "samina" meaning "stout" or "strong" and the Latin suffix "-ena" denoting feminine gender. The earliest known usage of the name dates back to the 11th century in the Kingdom of León and the Principality of Asturias, located in the northern regions of the Iberian Peninsula.
Jimena was a relatively common name among the Christian nobility and royal families of medieval Spain, particularly in the regions of León, Castile, and Aragón. One of the earliest known historical figures bearing this name was Jimena Muñoz, a noblewoman who lived in the early 11th century and was the wife of El Cid, the famous Castilian military leader and national hero.
Another notable Jimena was Jimena Díaz, a 12th-century Navarrese infanta (princess) who married Alfonso VII, the King of León and Castile. Their son, Sancho III, went on to become the King of Castile and Toledo. Jimena Díaz played a significant role in the political affairs of the Kingdom of Castile during her lifetime.
In the 13th century, Jimena Núñez was a Castilian noblewoman and the wife of Álvaro Pérez de Castro, a prominent military leader during the Reconquista. She was known for her involvement in the defense of the city of Cáceres against the Moors in 1227.
Jimena Blázquez was a 14th-century Castilian noblewoman and the wife of Rodrigo Álvarez de Asturias, a prominent military commander during the reign of Peter I of Castile. She played a significant role in the political intrigues and conflicts of the period.
In the 15th century, Jimena de la Cerda was a Castilian noblewoman and the wife of Juan Pacheco, the Marquis of Villena. She was a prominent figure in the court of Henry IV of Castile and played a crucial role in the dynastic struggles of the time.
While the name Jimena was most prevalent in medieval Spain, it has also been used in other Spanish-speaking regions over the centuries, although less frequently. The name continues to be used today, particularly in Spain and Latin American countries with Spanish cultural influences.
People
Jimena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jimena as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jimena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jimena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,351 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jimena 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 20,962 US residents.
Is Jimena a common name?
We classify Jimena as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,524 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jimena most popular?
The single biggest year for Jimena was 2016, when 830 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jimena is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jimena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,143 people with the name Jimena, or 4.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,068 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 Jimena 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 Jimena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jimena appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,143 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Jimena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jimena is Hispanic at 97.5%. The next largest groups are White (1.9%) and Black (0.3%). 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 Jimena most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jimena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.5% (12,811 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 Jimena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jimena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jimena 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 Jimena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jimena 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 Jimena 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 Jimena?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.