Mima
Feminine
Mima is four letters with no documented parent. Its letters are those of a word that means almost the opposite of what it used to: a Roman mime talked constantly.
How old is the name Mima?
Mima was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mima alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. About 100 people named Mima are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mima most popular?
Mima peaked in 1885, reaching #658 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Mima
Roman mime was a popular theatrical form with spoken dialogue, plots about adultery and money, actresses on stage at a time when the respectable theater used men, and a reputation for obscenity that the moralists complained about constantly. It was the mass entertainment of the empire. The silent art that English now calls mime is a nineteenth and twentieth century French development that borrowed the ancient name, and the two have almost nothing in common. A word that meant a rowdy comedy with a cast of speaking parts now means a man pretending there is a wall in front of him, which is one of the sharper reversals in theatrical vocabulary.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Jemima, Miriam and Amelia have all been suggested as sources and none is documented. The name may equally be complete as it stands.
Pronouncing Mima
MEE-muh
Two syllables with the stress in front. MY-muh is also heard and the spelling does not decide.
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 193525 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #658reached in 1885
- Change vs 2019
- +16.7%7 in 2022, from 6
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.
Mimas among us
people named Mima 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
Mima 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
- Four letters and two syllables: about as short and clear as a name gets.
- It is soft throughout and carries well over a phone line.
- It has a documented place in the earlier American record.
- Two pronunciations are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- It will be heard as Mimi or Mina by nearly anybody catching it once.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
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Mima
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mimas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Mima are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mima in 2025?
- Mima is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mima with classmates?
- Mima will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mima? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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