Damien
Damien was given to 935 boys in 2025, #352 among boys’ names; 65,018 Americans have been recorded with it since 1936 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 62,900 Americans named Damien and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 13 and 35.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Damien by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Damien mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Damien is “a male given name from Ancient Greek, the French equivalent of Damian”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Damien?
#352 among boys’ names, 2025
Damien fell from #254 in 2015 to #352 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.74 to 0.55 per 1,000.
2,265 babies in 2007, the peak
Damien peaked in 2007, when 2,265 boys were given it, #182 among boys’ names. The 935 births of 2025 are 41% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 935 | #352 | 0.55 |
| 2024 | 1,005 | #343 | 0.58 |
| 2023 | 1,013 | #330 | 0.59 |
| 2022 | 1,102 | #305 | 0.63 |
| 2021 | 1,235 | #280 | 0.71 |
| 2020 | 1,216 | #277 | 0.70 |
| 2019 | 1,246 | #282 | 0.69 |
| 2018 | 1,362 | #264 | 0.75 |
| 2017 | 1,355 | #266 | 0.73 |
| 2016 | 1,305 | #278 | 0.69 |
Every recorded year (87)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,426 | #254 | 0.74 |
| 2014 | 1,509 | #249 | 0.79 |
| 2013 | 1,619 | #226 | 0.86 |
| 2012 | 1,667 | #218 | 0.88 |
| 2011 | 1,835 | #198 | 1.0 |
| 2010 | 1,937 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 2009 | 2,014 | #188 | 1.0 |
| 2008 | 2,111 | #189 | 1.0 |
| 2007 | 2,265 | #182 | 1.1 |
| 2006 | 1,993 | #195 | 1.0 |
| 2005 | 1,939 | #200 | 1.0 |
| 2004 | 1,957 | #196 | 1.0 |
| 2003 | 1,890 | #197 | 1.0 |
| 2002 | 1,652 | #212 | 0.85 |
| 2001 | 1,402 | #241 | 0.72 |
| 2000 | 1,303 | #258 | 0.66 |
| 1999 | 1,119 | #268 | 0.58 |
| 1998 | 950 | #300 | 0.50 |
| 1997 | 907 | #301 | 0.48 |
| 1996 | 840 | #314 | 0.44 |
| 1995 | 954 | #285 | 0.50 |
| 1994 | 976 | #280 | 0.51 |
| 1993 | 904 | #304 | 0.46 |
| 1992 | 865 | #308 | 0.43 |
| 1991 | 812 | #316 | 0.40 |
| 1990 | 746 | #332 | 0.36 |
| 1989 | 774 | #310 | 0.39 |
| 1988 | 658 | #327 | 0.34 |
| 1987 | 580 | #344 | 0.31 |
| 1986 | 645 | #314 | 0.35 |
| 1985 | 687 | #296 | 0.37 |
| 1984 | 708 | #288 | 0.39 |
| 1983 | 790 | #262 | 0.44 |
| 1982 | 951 | #242 | 0.52 |
| 1981 | 1,037 | #228 | 0.58 |
| 1980 | 1,338 | #182 | 0.75 |
| 1979 | 1,321 | #183 | 0.77 |
| 1978 | 1,507 | #161 | 0.92 |
| 1977 | 833 | #246 | 0.51 |
| 1976 | 663 | #284 | 0.42 |
| 1975 | 542 | #326 | 0.35 |
| 1974 | 659 | #284 | 0.42 |
| 1973 | 355 | #417 | 0.23 |
| 1972 | 274 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1971 | 148 | #681 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 124 | #739 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 93 | #801 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 85 | #805 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 51 | #1,021 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 35 | #1,286 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 43 | #1,146 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 45 | #1,147 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 35 | #1,322 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 42 | #1,204 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 38 | #1,280 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 37 | #1,301 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 28 | #1,507 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 32 | #1,376 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 26 | #1,551 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #2,106 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 18 | #1,856 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 16 | #1,974 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 12 | #2,307 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 21 | #1,672 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 17 | #1,851 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,467 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 15 | #1,960 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,354 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 11 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #2,963 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,412 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #2,777 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #2,991 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #2,517 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,007 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,245 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,227 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Damien a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Damien has been given almost only to boys: 261 girls in 87 years of records.
Girls and boys named Damien: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Damien, and how old are they?
62,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 65,018 Americans ever recorded as Damien. The median Damien alive today is 21 years old; half are between 13 and 35.
The 2020 Census counted 49,449 people named Damien (214 women and girls, 49,235 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 57,323 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 16 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 307 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 7,450 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 12,400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 26,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 16,200 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Damien born?
The states with the most babies named Damien are California, Texas and Florida, with 36% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 155 | #240 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 111 | #342 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 56 | #348 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 38 | #315 | 0.9× |
| New York | 35 | #473 | 1.1× |
| Arizona | 34 | #235 | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 31 | #360 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 30 | #365 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 26 | #421 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 24 | #453 | 0.8× |
Where Damien is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Damien is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1936 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Damien with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 270,030 babies since 1880, Damien is the third most given (24% of them). In 2025 it was given to 935 of their 4,865 babies (19%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Damien
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Damien and names like it
- Compare Damien and DamianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sDamien peaked in 2007.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Damien since 1910.
- The top names of 2007The year the most babies were named Damien.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Damien alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with DMost given first.