Ima
Ima was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,399 among girls’ names; 6,806 Americans have been recorded with it since 1886 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,310 Americans named Ima and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (19% of everyone recorded); the median is 82 years old and half are between 72 and 88.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ima by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ima mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ima is “a formerly common Anglo-American given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ima?
#12,399 among girls’ names, 2025
Ima entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #12,399 in 2025.
232 babies in 1927, the peak
Ima peaked in 1927, when 232 girls were given it, #457 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,399 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 6 | #14,108 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 8 | #11,826 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #15,693 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 6 | #15,691 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 7 | #13,532 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 6 | #13,796 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 7 | #11,586 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 5 | #13,107 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 5 | #11,958 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (104)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 5 | #10,861 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,551 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 8 | #7,653 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,325 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #8,835 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,512 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 5 | #9,588 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 9 | #5,728 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 5 | #8,739 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 6 | #7,725 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,185 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,853 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 10 | #4,411 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 8 | #5,028 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,312 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 12 | #3,953 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 11 | #4,109 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 15 | #3,340 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #3,673 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 14 | #3,420 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,907 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 21 | #2,525 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 15 | #3,083 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 19 | #2,658 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 34 | #1,821 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 33 | #1,807 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 37 | #1,628 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 34 | #1,693 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 57 | #1,228 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 35 | #1,587 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 51 | #1,281 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 68 | #1,074 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 52 | #1,258 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 67 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 72 | #889 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 76 | #875 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 79 | #881 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 109 | #713 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 100 | #702 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 153 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1939 | 146 | #554 | 0.13 |
| 1938 | 125 | #612 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 154 | #534 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 149 | #533 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 171 | #482 | 0.16 |
| 1934 | 214 | #443 | 0.20 |
| 1933 | 204 | #460 | 0.20 |
| 1932 | 222 | #446 | 0.21 |
| 1931 | 204 | #451 | 0.19 |
| 1930 | 228 | #448 | 0.20 |
| 1929 | 202 | #470 | 0.18 |
| 1928 | 227 | #456 | 0.20 |
| 1927 | 232 | #457 | 0.19 |
| 1926 | 223 | #460 | 0.19 |
| 1925 | 219 | #465 | 0.18 |
| 1924 | 179 | #542 | 0.14 |
| 1923 | 166 | #563 | 0.14 |
| 1922 | 155 | #576 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 167 | #550 | 0.14 |
| 1920 | 169 | #548 | 0.14 |
| 1919 | 139 | #600 | 0.12 |
| 1918 | 158 | #567 | 0.14 |
| 1917 | 149 | #553 | 0.14 |
| 1916 | 110 | #649 | 0.11 |
| 1915 | 109 | #630 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 94 | #586 | 0.12 |
| 1913 | 67 | #631 | 0.11 |
| 1912 | 63 | #625 | 0.11 |
| 1911 | 49 | #614 | 0.12 |
| 1910 | 50 | #590 | 0.13 |
| 1909 | 56 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1908 | 40 | #596 | 0.12 |
| 1907 | 42 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1906 | 46 | #510 | 0.16 |
| 1905 | 45 | #508 | 0.15 |
| 1904 | 33 | #592 | 0.12 |
| 1903 | 40 | #507 | 0.15 |
| 1902 | 32 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 30 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1900 | 36 | #585 | 0.12 |
| 1899 | 37 | #486 | 0.16 |
| 1898 | 38 | #506 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 22 | #669 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 26 | #614 | 0.11 |
| 1895 | 28 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 42 | #432 | 0.19 |
| 1893 | 26 | #554 | 0.12 |
| 1892 | 24 | #571 | 0.11 |
| 1891 | 10 | #913 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 11 | #851 | 0.06 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,068 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 9 | #920 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,217 | 0.03 |
| 1886 | 9 | #797 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ima a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ima has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 104 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ima: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ima, and how old are they?
1,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 19% of the 6,806 Americans ever recorded as Ima. The median Ima alive today is 82 years old; half are between 72 and 88.
The 2020 Census counted 1,889 people named Ima (1,829 women and girls, 60 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,992 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 681 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 443 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 91 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 21 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 32 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 21 |
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 Ima born?
The states with the most babies named Ima are Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky, with 62% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Kentucky are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,697 | not ranked | 5.0× |
| Oklahoma | 642 | not ranked | 4.9× |
| Kentucky | 420 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Arkansas | 396 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Tennessee | 347 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Alabama | 284 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Georgia | 138 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Missouri | 138 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 113 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Louisiana | 63 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Ima is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ima is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 5.0 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 girls’ 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 Ima 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 8,199 babies since 1880, Ima is the most given (83% of them).
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 Ima
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 Ima and names like it
- Compare Ima and ImoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sIma peaked in 1927.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ima since 1910.
- The top names of 1927The year the most babies were named Ima.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Ima alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with IMost given first.