Neema
A feminine Arabic name meaning grace or favor.
Name Census estimates that about 986 living Americans carry the first name Neema. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Neema today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neema births was 2019 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neema. 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 Neema with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
986
~ 1 in 347,621 Americans
Peak year
2019
47 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2005 SSA rank
#4,341
Tracked since 1972
Census
Neema in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,516 people with the first name Neema, which placed it at #9,256 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
#9,256
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,516 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
55.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neema
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neema is Black at 55.1%. The next largest groups are White (19.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (18.9%). 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 Neema 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 Neema at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American55.1% · 835
- White19.4% · 294
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.9% · 287
- Two or more races4.7% · 71
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Neema
Neema is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,009 total registrations, 256 (25.4%) were male and 753 (74.6%) were female.
Neema as a male name
- Ranked #12,774 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1999 (18 births)
Neema as a female name
- Ranked #4,341 in 2024
- 33 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (47 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Neema on both sides of the split. Of the 1,504 people counted with this name, 324 were male (21.5%) and 1,180 were female (78.5%).
Popularity
Neema: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neema from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 280 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Neema remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neema 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 Neema during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neemas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Neema, while Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Neema
The name Neema is a Swahili name that originates from East Africa. It is derived from the Arabic word "ni'mah," which means "blessing" or "grace." The Swahili language is spoken in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The name Neema has been in use for centuries among the Swahili people, who are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting the coastal regions of East Africa. Swahili culture has been influenced by various factors, including Arab and Persian traders who settled in the region during the Middle Ages.
While the name Neema does not appear in any ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been a popular name among the Swahili people for generations. The earliest recorded examples of the name date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, during the height of the Swahili coastal trading cities.
One notable person with the name Neema was Neema Mgana, a Tanzanian politician and women's rights activist. She served as a member of the Tanzanian Parliament from 1995 to 2010 and was a vocal advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment.
Another individual with the name Neema was Neema Nkya, a Tanzanian singer and musician. She was born in 1980 and is known for her contributions to the bongo flava genre, a popular form of Tanzanian hip hop and R&B.
In Kenya, Neema Nkatha was a prominent figure in the country's literary scene. She was a poet and author who published several collections of poetry and short stories, celebrating Kenyan culture and traditions. Nkatha was born in 1950 and passed away in 2018.
Neema Mugala was a Ugandan activist and advocate for women's rights. She founded the organization Women's Rights Initiative and worked tirelessly to promote gender equality and combat violence against women in Uganda. Mugala lived from 1965 to 2018.
In the world of sports, Neema Barnabas was a Tanzanian long-distance runner. She represented Tanzania in multiple international competitions, including the Olympic Games and World Championships. Barnabas was born in 1985 and achieved notable success in marathons and cross-country events.
People
Neema + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neema as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Neema: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neema?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 986 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neema 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 347,621 US residents.
Is Neema a common name?
We classify Neema as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,009 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neema most popular?
The single biggest year for Neema was 2019, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neema is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neema in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,516 people with the name Neema, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,256 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 Neema 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 Neema?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Neema on both sides of the split. Of the 1,504 people counted with this name, 324 were male (21.5%) and 1,180 were female (78.5%). 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 Neema?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neema is Black at 55.1%. The next largest groups are White (19.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (18.9%). 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 Neema most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Neema in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.1% (835 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 Neema in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neema a female name?
Yes, 74.6% of people registered as Neema 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 Neema still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neema 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 Neema 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 share the name Neema?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.