Ximena
A feminine name of Old German origin meaning "listening protection".
Name Census estimates that about 37,649 living Americans carry the first name Ximena. It sits at #173 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ximena today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ximena births was 2016 (2,686 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ximena. 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 Ximena with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Ximena is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 9,104 Americans
Peak year
2016
2,686 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2016 SSA rank
#173
Tracked since 1966
Census
Ximena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,081 people with the first name Ximena, which placed it at #1,420 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
#1,420
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
24,081 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ximena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ximena is Hispanic at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.6%) 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 Ximena 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 Ximena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.7% · 23,539
- White1.6% · 394
- Black or African American0.3% · 75
- Two or more races0.1% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Ximena
Out of the 37,976 babies given the name Ximena 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.
Ximena as a male name
- Ranked #12,112 in 2016
- 6 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2014 (7 births)
Ximena as a female name
- Ranked #173 in 2024
- 1,744 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (2,680 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ximena appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,081 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Ximena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ximena 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 21,038 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ximena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ximena 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 Ximena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ximenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Ximena, while Wyoming, Connecticut, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 926 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ximena
The name Ximena originated in Spain and has its roots in the medieval Spanish language. It is derived from the Germanic nameXimena, which is a combination of the elements "gu" meaning "battle" and "man" meaning "man." The name was brought to Spain by the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that settled in the Iberian Peninsula during the 5th and 6th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ximena can be found in the epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," which dates back to the 12th century. In the poem, Ximena is the name of the wife of the legendary Spanish hero El Cid Campeador. The name also appears in other medieval Spanish literary works, such as the "Poema de Fernán González" and the "Crónica del Rey Don Pedro."
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Ximena. Ximena Batres (1919-1994) was a Guatemalan writer and activist known for her work in promoting indigenous rights and cultural preservation. Ximena Navarrete (born 1988) is a Mexican actress and model who won the Miss Universe pageant in 2010. Ximena Arenas (born 1982) is a Mexican singer and songwriter who has released several successful albums.
In the realm of literature, Ximena Sánchez (1944-2023) was a renowned Colombian poet and essayist whose works explored themes of identity, feminism, and social justice. Ximena Grollmus (born 1963) is an Argentine writer and journalist who has published several novels and short story collections.
While the name Ximena has its roots in medieval Spain, it has since gained popularity in various Spanish-speaking countries, particularly in Latin America. The name continues to be a popular choice for parents seeking a name with a rich cultural heritage and historical significance.
People
Ximena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ximena as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with X
Other first names starting with X with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ximena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ximena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,649 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ximena 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 9,104 US residents.
Is Ximena a common name?
We classify Ximena as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37,976 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ximena most popular?
The single biggest year for Ximena was 2016, when 2,686 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ximena is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ximena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,081 people with the name Ximena, or 7.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,420 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 Ximena 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 Ximena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ximena appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,081 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Ximena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ximena is Hispanic at 97.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.6%) 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 Ximena most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ximena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.7% (23,539 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 Ximena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ximena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ximena 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 Ximena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ximena 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 Ximena 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 Ximena?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.