Damon
Damon was given to 604 boys in 2025, #501 among boys’ names; 69,157 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 61,900 Americans named Damon and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 22 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Damon by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Damon mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Damon is “a male given name from Ancient Greek.” Its etymology gives the sense “to tame, subdue” (δαμάζω).
Also “a male given name from Albanian.”
From Ancient Greek Δάμων (Dámōn), a name famous for the story of Damon and Pythias; derivative of δαμάζω (damázō, “to tame, subdue”).
/ˈdeɪmən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Damon?
#501 among boys’ names, 2025
Damon fell from #427 in 2015 to #501 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.38 to 0.35 per 1,000.
2,478 babies in 1976, the peak
Damon peaked in 1976, when 2,478 babies were given it (2,453 boys, #104 among boys’ names). The 604 births of 2025 are 24% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 604 | #501 | 0.35 |
| 2024 | 690 | #454 | 0.40 |
| 2023 | 743 | #425 | 0.43 |
| 2022 | 744 | #424 | 0.43 |
| 2021 | 727 | #424 | 0.42 |
| 2020 | 693 | #430 | 0.40 |
| 2019 | 651 | #460 | 0.36 |
| 2018 | 718 | #427 | 0.40 |
| 2017 | 709 | #438 | 0.38 |
| 2016 | 700 | #442 | 0.37 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 719 | #427 | 0.38 |
| 2014 | 764 | #406 | 0.40 |
| 2013 | 796 | #378 | 0.42 |
| 2012 | 722 | #403 | 0.38 |
| 2011 | 682 | #414 | 0.36 |
| 2010 | 668 | #419 | 0.35 |
| 2009 | 521 | #517 | 0.26 |
| 2008 | 585 | #472 | 0.29 |
| 2007 | 674 | #428 | 0.32 |
| 2006 | 782 | #381 | 0.38 |
| 2005 | 1,007 | #321 | 0.50 |
| 2004 | 992 | #314 | 0.50 |
| 2003 | 1,022 | #298 | 0.52 |
| 2002 | 1,027 | #290 | 0.53 |
| 2001 | 1,038 | #288 | 0.53 |
| 2000 | 1,044 | #289 | 0.53 |
| 1999 | 1,020 | #285 | 0.53 |
| 1998 | 1,052 | #272 | 0.55 |
| 1997 | 986 | #284 | 0.52 |
| 1996 | 1,001 | #279 | 0.53 |
| 1995 | 957 | #283 | 0.50 |
| 1994 | 935 | #293 | 0.48 |
| 1993 | 1,000 | #281 | 0.51 |
| 1992 | 1,005 | #284 | 0.50 |
| 1991 | 888 | #291 | 0.44 |
| 1990 | 788 | #321 | 0.38 |
| 1989 | 642 | #354 | 0.32 |
| 1988 | 584 | #356 | 0.31 |
| 1987 | 533 | #367 | 0.29 |
| 1986 | 561 | #342 | 0.30 |
| 1985 | 593 | #331 | 0.32 |
| 1984 | 596 | #322 | 0.33 |
| 1983 | 600 | #319 | 0.33 |
| 1982 | 638 | #309 | 0.35 |
| 1981 | 684 | #293 | 0.38 |
| 1980 | 897 | #251 | 0.50 |
| 1979 | 1,445 | #166 | 0.84 |
| 1978 | 1,981 | #132 | 1.2 |
| 1977 | 2,357 | #112 | 1.4 |
| 1976 | 2,453 | #104 | 1.6 |
| 1975 | 2,280 | #114 | 1.5 |
| 1974 | 2,360 | #110 | 1.5 |
| 1973 | 2,045 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1972 | 1,927 | #137 | 1.2 |
| 1971 | 1,582 | #171 | 0.89 |
| 1970 | 1,622 | #174 | 0.87 |
| 1969 | 1,455 | #188 | 0.81 |
| 1968 | 1,330 | #188 | 0.77 |
| 1967 | 982 | #224 | 0.56 |
| 1966 | 865 | #241 | 0.49 |
| 1965 | 720 | #280 | 0.39 |
| 1964 | 700 | #298 | 0.35 |
| 1963 | 753 | #281 | 0.37 |
| 1962 | 487 | #360 | 0.24 |
| 1961 | 468 | #367 | 0.22 |
| 1960 | 362 | #418 | 0.17 |
| 1959 | 339 | #434 | 0.16 |
| 1958 | 228 | #510 | 0.11 |
| 1957 | 261 | #482 | 0.12 |
| 1956 | 235 | #492 | 0.11 |
| 1955 | 214 | #505 | 0.10 |
| 1954 | 213 | #498 | 0.10 |
| 1953 | 175 | #539 | 0.09 |
| 1952 | 133 | #614 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 133 | #609 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 120 | #626 | 0.07 |
| 1949 | 136 | #578 | 0.08 |
| 1948 | 104 | #662 | 0.06 |
| 1947 | 137 | #577 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 103 | #634 | 0.06 |
| 1945 | 71 | #728 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 76 | #712 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 72 | #768 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 96 | #653 | 0.07 |
| 1941 | 64 | #781 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 64 | #772 | 0.06 |
| 1939 | 69 | #718 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 64 | #764 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 69 | #732 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 70 | #715 | 0.07 |
| 1935 | 50 | #896 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 65 | #764 | 0.06 |
| 1933 | 73 | #704 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 65 | #787 | 0.06 |
| 1931 | 51 | #902 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 55 | #896 | 0.05 |
| 1929 | 49 | #962 | 0.05 |
| 1928 | 68 | #788 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 63 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 71 | #771 | 0.06 |
| 1925 | 62 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1924 | 60 | #899 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 50 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 70 | #801 | 0.06 |
| 1921 | 46 | #1,032 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 62 | #866 | 0.06 |
| 1919 | 60 | #853 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 46 | #987 | 0.05 |
| 1917 | 34 | #1,152 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 61 | #791 | 0.07 |
| 1915 | 41 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 29 | #1,060 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 20 | #1,152 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 31 | #786 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,417 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 7 | #1,336 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 11 | #907 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 13 | #747 | 0.09 |
| 1906 | 9 | #866 | 0.07 |
| 1905 | 18 | #550 | 0.14 |
| 1904 | 13 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,037 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 6 | #974 | 0.06 |
| 1900 | 11 | #796 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 7 | #876 | 0.07 |
| 1898 | 7 | #904 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,134 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 8 | #808 | 0.07 |
| 1893 | 7 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1892 | 11 | #650 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,000 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 6 | #839 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Damon a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Damon has been given almost only to boys: 316 girls in 132 years of records.
Girls and boys named Damon: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Damon, and how old are they?
61,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 69,157 Americans ever recorded as Damon. The median Damon alive today is 40 years old; half are between 22 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 50,023 people named Damon (136 women and girls, 49,887 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 59,571 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% 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 | 246 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,810 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 23,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 13,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 9,190 |
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 Damon born?
The states with the most babies named Damon are California, Texas and New York, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7,414 | #603 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 5,146 | #430 | 0.9× |
| New York | 4,157 | #573 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 3,591 | #459 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 3,458 | #546 | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 3,088 | #444 | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 2,704 | #489 | 1.6× |
| Florida | 2,421 | #395 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 2,125 | #688 | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 2,114 | #441 | 1.4× |
Where Damon is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Damon is most over-represented in Indiana: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Damon 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 271,656 babies since 1880, Damon is the second most given (25% of them). In 2025 it was given to 604 of their 4,976 babies (12%), the third 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 Damon
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 Damon and names like it
- Compare Damon and DamianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sDamon peaked in 1976.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Damon since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Damon: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1976The year the most babies were named Damon.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Damon alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with DMost given first.