Jimmy
Feminine · “from James”
Jimmy is given to boys far more often — 288,737 boys against 2,218 girls since 1880. See Jimmy as a boy name
Jimmy is a diminutive of a diminutive. James gave Jim, and Jim took a further affectionate ending to give this, which puts two full steps between the child and the name on the certificate — except that for a century and more the certificate has often said Jimmy, which makes the shortening a formality nobody performs.
How old is the name Jimmy?
Jimmy first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Jimmy alive today was born around 1953, making them about 72 years old. About 1,400 people named Jimmy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jimmy most popular?
Jimmy peaked in 1932, reaching #979 nationally. See the whole 1932 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From James to Jimmy
The story of Jimmy
The vowel in the middle was not always an i. The medieval and early modern short form of James was Jem, with the vowel of gem, and it stayed that way for a long time: Jem appears in registers, in letters and in literature well into the nineteenth century, and it survives in Britain still. Jim is the later form, produced by the ordinary raising of that vowel in a stressed short syllable, and it then took over so completely that Jem now sounds like a regional curiosity rather than the original. The word for a small crowbar, which came from the name, kept the older vowel for a while and then followed it, which is a neat piece of evidence for when the shift finished.
Meaning
from James
The sense runs back through James to a Hebrew name about grasping a heel. Two layers of affectionate shortening lie between, and neither adds anything translatable. What the name carries is familiarity rather than meaning.
How the name formed
- James
- Jem
- Jim
- Jimmy
Related forms: Jaimito · Giacomino
Pronouncing Jimmy
JIM-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Nothing about the spelling is ambiguous and the name is never mispronounced.
Nicknames for Jimmy
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
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 193252 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #979reached in 1932
- Change vs 1998
- −28.6%5 in 2002, from 7
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.
Jimmy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jaimito in Spanish — related form
- Giacomino in Italian — related form
Jimmys among us
people named Jimmy 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
Jimmy 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
- It is warm and approachable in a way the full name is not.
- Jim sits inside it as a plainer form for adult life.
- It has been in continuous use long enough to be entirely familiar to everyone.
- Its peak generation is far enough back to date the name clearly.
- It reads as a nickname to some ears even when it is the legal name.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is much the smaller side.
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What they receive
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Jimmy
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jimmys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Jimmy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jimmy in 2025?
- Jimmy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jimmy with classmates?
- Jimmy 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 Jimmy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jimmy and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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