Jim
Feminine · “supplanter”
Jim is given to boys far more often — 153,122 boys against 816 girls since 1880. See Jim as a boy name
Jim is what English does to James when it is in a hurry, and it has been doing it for a very long time. It has been an ordinary American name since before the records begin, and two Jims in particular have kept it in the national conversation: one invented in a novel, one an athlete whose name a whole town took.
How old is the name Jim?
Jim first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Jim alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 300 people named Jim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jim most popular?
Jim peaked in 1892, reaching #1085 nationally. See the whole 1892 chart.
Where it comes from
From Jacob to Jim
The story of Jim
The most consequential Jim in American writing is the man Huck Finn runs away with: a person the book's narrator has been raised to regard as property and slowly, painfully, comes to see otherwise. He is the moral center of the novel and the reason it keeps being argued about, banned, defended and taught. The other Jim worth knowing is Jim Thorpe, the Sac and Fox athlete who won both the pentathlon and the decathlon at one Olympics and had the medals taken away over a technicality that was later reversed. After he died, two small Pennsylvania towns that had never met him merged, renamed themselves Jim Thorpe, and built his tomb, in the hope that a famous grave would bring visitors. It worked, more or less, and the town still carries his name.
Meaning
supplanter, by way of James and Jacob
James descends from Jacob through Latin and French, and the Hebrew name behind it has long been read as one who takes the heel or supplants. The reading belongs to the full name; Jim simply inherits it.
How the name formed
- Jacob
- Iacomus
- James
- Jim
Pronouncing Jim
JIM
One syllable and there is nothing to get wrong.
Nicknames for Jim
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 191823 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1085reached in 1892
- Change vs 1971
- −37.5%5 in 1984, from 8
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.
Jims among us
people named Jim are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Jim sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Three letters, one syllable, and understood instantly everywhere English is spoken.
- It is a complete name and a short form at once, so a child can be Jim on the register and James on a degree if he ever wants to be.
- It has an unbroken American record stretching back to the start of the statistics, which very few short forms can say.
- The name is attached to the body of American segregation laws through a minstrel character, and that association is permanent and worth naming rather than stepping around.
- It reads as belonging to an older generation in America, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- This spelling is recorded for girls as well as boys, though very rarely, so the occasional form will guess wrong.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jim to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jim
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jims are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Jim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jim in 2025?
- Jim is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jim with classmates?
- Jim will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jim? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jim and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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