Neema
Neema was given to 31 girls in 2025, #4,522 among girls’ names; 1,040 Americans have been recorded with it since 1972 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,020 Americans named Neema and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 8 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Neema by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Neema mean?
Wiktionary, Swahili section
Neema is “a female given name from Arabic” Its etymology gives the sense “grace” (neema).
From neema (“grace”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, Swahili section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Neema?
#4,522 among girls’ names, 2025
Neema rose from #4,943 in 2015 to #4,522 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 15.7 to 19.3 per million.
47 babies in 2019, the peak
Neema peaked in 2019, when 47 girls were given it, #3,370 among girls’ names. The 31 births of 2025 are 66% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31 | #4,522 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 33 | #4,354 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 33 | #4,338 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 35 | #4,175 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 44 | #3,539 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 30 | #4,517 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 47 | #3,370 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 32 | #4,427 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 30 | #4,663 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 32 | #4,498 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (54)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 28 | #4,943 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 32 | #4,521 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,289 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 20 | #6,511 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 20 | #6,499 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,120 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 22 | #6,246 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 17 | #7,647 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 22 | #6,258 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 14 | #8,589 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 8 | #12,684 | 5 | #12,766 |
| 2004 | 12 | #9,112 | 5 | #12,642 |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,211 | 5 | #12,173 |
| 2002 | 7 | #13,224 | 10 | #6,894 |
| 2001 | 7 | #13,067 | 6 | #10,146 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,395 | 5 | #11,620 |
| 1999 | 6 | #13,918 | 18 | #4,102 |
| 1998 | 12 | #7,883 | 7 | #8,178 |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,504 | 16 | #4,174 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,249 | 13 | #4,797 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,869 | 10 | #5,774 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 14 | #4,458 | |
| 1993 | 8 | #10,256 | 6 | #8,361 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,313 | 10 | #5,525 |
| 1991 | under 5 | 14 | #4,154 | |
| 1990 | 6 | #12,419 | 11 | #4,889 |
| 1989 | 8 | #9,368 | 12 | #4,438 |
| 1988 | 5 | #13,216 | 8 | #5,559 |
| 1987 | 7 | #9,481 | 14 | #3,457 |
| 1986 | under 5 | 9 | #4,724 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 9 | #4,572 | |
| 1984 | 5 | #11,595 | 14 | #3,220 |
| 1983 | 18 | #4,225 | 6 | #6,001 |
| 1982 | 5 | #11,707 | 6 | #6,155 |
| 1981 | under 5 | 8 | #4,820 | |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,943 | 8 | #4,812 |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,795 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,344 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 7 | #8,132 | 7 | #4,950 |
| 1976 | 5 | #10,357 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,703 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 9 | #6,084 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,090 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,927 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Neema a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,040 Americans recorded as Neema, 75% are girls and 25% boys. In 2025 it went to 31 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Neema: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Neema, and how old are they?
1,020 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,040 Americans ever recorded as Neema. The median Neema alive today is 18 years old; half are between 8 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 1,504 people named Neema (1,180 women and girls, 324 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 826 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 69 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 237 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 292 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 421 |
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 7 names spelled alike, given to 7,738 babies since 1880, Neema is the third most given (13% of them). In 2025 it was given to 31 of their 60 babies (52%), the 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 Neema
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1970-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Yuri | 6,224 |
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 Neema and names like it
- Compare Neema and NeomaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sNeema peaked in 2019.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Neema since 1910.
- Arabic namesWiktionary’s origin for Neema: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2019The year the most babies were named Neema.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Neema alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with NMost given first.