Tima
"Tima" is a feminine name of Russian origin meaning "brave, courageous woman".
Name Census estimates that about 126 living Americans carry the first name Tima. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tima today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tima births was 1960 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tima. 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
126
~ 1 in 2,720,273 Americans
Peak year
1960
11 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,384
Tracked since 1956
Popularity
Tima: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tima from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 60 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
Tima 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 Tima during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tima
The name Tima is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India, with roots dating back to around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "tamas," which means darkness or ignorance, and is often associated with the concept of spiritual enlightenment and the journey of overcoming one's inner darkness through knowledge and wisdom.
In Hindu mythology, the name Tima is sometimes linked to the goddess Tara, who is revered as a symbol of compassion, protection, and spiritual guidance. The name is also mentioned in some early Hindu texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, although its exact significance and context vary across different scriptures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tima can be found in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a minor character. However, it is not until the medieval period that the name gained more prominence, particularly in the works of various Indian poets and scholars.
In the 7th century CE, there was a famous Indian philosopher and astronomer named Tima Siddhanta, who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and authored several treatises on the subject. Another notable figure was Tima Bhatta, a 10th-century Indian mathematician and scholar, who is credited with developing important concepts in algebra and geometry.
During the Mughal Empire in India, which spanned from the 16th to the 19th century, the name Tima was occasionally used by members of the royal family and nobility. One such example is Tima Sultan Begum, who was the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Akbar and lived from 1573 to 1604.
In more recent history, the name Tima has been carried by several notable individuals, including Tima Kurtic, a Bosnian writer and journalist born in 1976, and Tima Shomali, an Afghan-American singer and songwriter born in 1988.
While the name Tima is not as commonly used today as it once was in certain regions of South Asia, it still holds cultural and historical significance, particularly in its association with ancient Sanskrit literature, Hindu mythology, and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment.
People
Tima + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tima as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tima: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tima?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 126 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tima 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 2,720,273 US residents.
Is Tima a common name?
We classify Tima as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tima most popular?
The single biggest year for Tima was 1960, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tima is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tima a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tima 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.
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.