Dimas
Masculine
Dimas is the good thief. The Gospels do not name either of the men crucified beside Jesus, but an early apocryphal gospel does, and the one who asks to be remembered has been called Dismas or Dimas ever since. He is the patron of prisoners and of the condemned, and in Spanish-speaking countries the name is ordinary.
How old is the name Dimas?
Dimas first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Dimas alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,600 people named Dimas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dimas most popular?
Dimas peaked in 1965, reaching #1595 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 3,262 places below that high. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dysmas to Dimas
The story of Dimas
The Gospel of Nicodemus, an apocryphal text of the fourth or fifth century, names the two men crucified with Jesus, and the tradition stuck: Dismas the penitent and Gestas the other. Devotion to the good thief grew steadily in medieval and early modern Europe, and he became the patron of prisoners, undertakers and the condemned, with prison chapels named for him around the world. Spanish took the name as Dimas and it has been widely given in Spain, Mexico, the Philippines and Brazil.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name comes from a fourth-century apocryphal text and has no secure etymology. A Greek word for sunset has been proposed, and so has a word meaning dying; neither is convincing and neither is refuted. What is documented is the tradition that attached the name to the penitent thief.
How the name formed
- Dysmas
- Dismas
- Dimas
Related forms: Dismas · Dimas · Disma · Dimas
Pronouncing Dimas
DEE-mas
Two syllables, stress in front, the first vowel long as in see. English speakers often say DY-mas, which Spanish-speaking families correct once and then let go.
Nicknames for Dimas
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 199741 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1595reached in 1965
- Change vs 2023
- −33.3%20 in 2025, from 30
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dimas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dismas in English — spelling variant
- Dimas in Portuguese — same name
- Disma in Italian — same name
- Dimas in Filipino — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Dimass among us
people named Dimas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Dimas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jiro test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dimas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jiro climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jiro's path sketches the road Dimas is walking now.
Dimas sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Dimas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dimas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries a story that is short, complete and unusually moving.
- Five letters and two syllables make it easy to write and to say.
- It is ordinary across Spain, Latin America and the Philippines.
- Its origin is genuinely unknown, so the meanings printed online are guesses.
- The English clipping Dim is a word nobody wants, so the short form needs choosing carefully.
- The figure it names is a condemned criminal, which some families find beautiful and others find heavy.
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What they receive
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Dimas
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dimass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Dimas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dimas in 2025?
- Dimas ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dimas?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Dimas — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dimas with classmates?
- Dimas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dimas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dimas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dimas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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