Jemima
Jemima was given to 43 girls in 2025, #3,543 among girls’ names; 1,832 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,450 Americans named Jemima and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (79% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 8 and 28.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jemima by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jemima mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jemima is “a female given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “dove” (יְמִימָה).
From the name of a minor biblical character, from Hebrew יְמִימָה (“dove”). By folk etymology also used as a feminine form of James.
/d͡ʒəˈmaɪmə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jemima?
#3,543 among girls’ names, 2025
Jemima rose from #4,181 in 2015 to #3,543 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 19.6 to 26.8 per million.
64 babies in 2018, the peak
Jemima peaked in 2018, when 64 girls were given it, #2,696 among girls’ names. The 43 births of 2025 are 67% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 43 | #3,543 | 26.8 |
| 2024 | 56 | #2,952 | 34.6 |
| 2023 | 62 | #2,774 | 38.6 |
| 2022 | 54 | #3,051 | 32.9 |
| 2021 | 41 | #3,706 | 25.0 |
| 2020 | 34 | #4,110 | 21.0 |
| 2019 | 46 | #3,415 | 27.4 |
| 2018 | 64 | #2,696 | 37.6 |
| 2017 | 38 | #3,947 | 22.0 |
| 2016 | 44 | #3,553 | 24.8 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 35 | #4,181 | 19.6 |
| 2014 | 55 | #3,054 | 30.8 |
| 2013 | 44 | #3,529 | 25.1 |
| 2012 | 42 | #3,744 | 23.8 |
| 2011 | 40 | #3,805 | 22.7 |
| 2010 | 34 | #4,341 | 19.1 |
| 2009 | 51 | #3,268 | 27.8 |
| 2008 | 33 | #4,581 | 17.5 |
| 2007 | 43 | #3,743 | 22.4 |
| 2006 | 36 | #4,103 | 18.9 |
| 2005 | 30 | #4,519 | 16.2 |
| 2004 | 32 | #4,319 | 17.4 |
| 2003 | 34 | #3,976 | 18.6 |
| 2002 | 24 | #4,977 | 13.4 |
| 2001 | 24 | #4,894 | 13.3 |
| 2000 | 26 | #4,585 | 14.3 |
| 1999 | 29 | #4,015 | 16.3 |
| 1998 | 17 | #5,910 | 9.6 |
| 1997 | 14 | #6,616 | 8.0 |
| 1996 | 29 | #3,761 | 16.5 |
| 1995 | 18 | #5,295 | 10.2 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,298 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,776 | 8.8 |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,725 | 6.0 |
| 1991 | 17 | #5,509 | 9.1 |
| 1990 | 13 | #6,616 | 6.8 |
| 1989 | 14 | #5,947 | 7.6 |
| 1988 | 17 | #4,922 | 9.5 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,616 | 5.2 |
| 1986 | 12 | #5,916 | 7.0 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,200 | 6.4 |
| 1984 | 11 | #6,053 | 6.5 |
| 1983 | 10 | #6,402 | 6.0 |
| 1982 | 12 | #5,681 | 7.1 |
| 1981 | 10 | #6,515 | 6.0 |
| 1980 | 7 | #8,505 | 4.2 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,900 | 6.9 |
| 1978 | 9 | #6,607 | 5.9 |
| 1977 | 13 | #5,039 | 8.5 |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,550 | 4.1 |
| 1975 | 13 | #4,692 | 8.9 |
| 1974 | 15 | #4,105 | 10.2 |
| 1973 | 5 | #8,932 | 3.4 |
| 1972 | 8 | #6,186 | 5.3 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,425 | 3.4 |
| 1969 | 5 | #7,923 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,326 | 3.6 |
| 1966 | 5 | #6,982 | 3.0 |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,585 | 2.9 |
| 1941 | 6 | #4,169 | 5.0 |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,304 | 7.2 |
| 1935 | 8 | #3,290 | 7.6 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,422 | 7.5 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,847 | 6.3 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,954 | 6.1 |
| 1927 | 7 | #4,051 | 5.9 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,553 | 5.1 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,848 | 6.6 |
| 1924 | 10 | #3,247 | 8.0 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,164 | 5.8 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,823 | 6.7 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,831 | 6.5 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,776 | 6.7 |
| 1919 | 7 | #4,029 | 6.2 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,436 | 12.1 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,954 | 16.6 |
| 1916 | 16 | #2,075 | 15.3 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,465 | 12.2 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,890 | 6.6 |
| 1913 | 6 | #3,007 | 9.6 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,242 | 14.3 |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,661 | 12.0 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,274 | 15.1 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,671 | 23.0 |
| 1908 | 8 | #1,609 | 23.9 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,802 | 20.6 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,928 | 19.1 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,695 | 22.7 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,565 | 25.1 |
| 1900 | 11 | #1,197 | 36.7 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,818 | 19.3 |
| 1897 | 11 | #1,010 | 47.0 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,700 | 21.0 |
| 1895 | 8 | #1,246 | 34.2 |
| 1893 | 13 | #846 | 61.1 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,552 | 23.5 |
| 1891 | 10 | #916 | 53.9 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,272 | 31.5 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,377 | 28.0 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,205 | 33.6 |
| 1887 | 9 | #821 | 61.7 |
| 1885 | 10 | #713 | 75.2 |
| 1884 | 9 | #763 | 69.8 |
| 1883 | 6 | #864 | 53.4 |
| 1882 | 5 | #967 | 46.4 |
| 1881 | 5 | #879 | 54.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Jemima a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jemima has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 106 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Jemima: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jemima, and how old are they?
1,450 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 79% of the 1,832 Americans ever recorded as Jemima. The median Jemima alive today is 16 years old; half are between 8 and 28.
The 2020 Census counted 2,015 people named Jemima (2,007 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,186 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 9 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 102 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 216 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 504 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 612 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 12,266 babies since 1880, Jemima is the second most given (15% of them). In 2025 it was given to 43 of their 427 babies (10%), again the second most given.
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 Jemima
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 Jemima and names like it
- Compare Jemima and JemmaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sJemima peaked in 2018.
- Florida’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jemima since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Jemima: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2018The year the most babies were named Jemima.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Jemima alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with JMost given first.