Tim
Masculine · “honoring God”
Tim is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 83,358 boys against 188 girls since 1880.
Tim is the short form of Timothy, a Greek name built out of two words: honor and god. It was in use among Greek speakers before Christianity existed, and the New Testament simply borrowed an ordinary name.
How old is the name Tim?
Tim was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Tim alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 63,500 people named Tim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tim most popular?
Tim peaked in 1959, reaching #60 nationally. Today it ranks #3181, 3,121 places below that high. See the whole 1959 chart.
Where it comes from
From Timotheos to Tim
The story of Tim
Timothy appears in the New Testament as a companion of Paul, and two letters addressed to him are in the canon, which gave the name a permanent place in Christian naming. English use was thin until the Reformation, when Greek and Hebrew New Testament names became fashionable among Protestant families. Timothy rose steadily in twentieth-century America and Tim rose with it, registered on its own from the 1940s and peaking at the end of the 1950s.
Meaning
honoring God
From the Greek Timotheos — timao, 'to honor', and theos, 'god'. Compounds of this shape were ordinary in Greek naming, and the pairing is transparent in a way few name meanings are.
How the name formed
- Timotheos
- Timotheus
- Timothy
- Tim
Related forms: Timo · Timofey · Timothée · Timoteo
Pronouncing Tim
TIM
One syllable. Said identically everywhere in English.
Nicknames for Tim
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19606,931 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #60reached in 1959
- Change vs 2022
- +15.6%37 in 2025, from 32
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.
Tim in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Timo in German — related form
- Timofey in Russian — related form
- Timothée in French — related form
- Timoteo in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Tims among us
people named Tim are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 46,164 born in 2025 was named Tim
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 Eddie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tim's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eddie climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eddie's path sketches the road Tim is walking now.
Tim 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
Where Tim is headed
Tim should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Tim beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tim in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Timothy stands behind it with two thousand years of documented use.
- One syllable, warm, and impossible to get wrong.
- Cousins exist across German, Russian, French and Italian, so it travels.
- Given outright it stays informal, with no long form on the certificate.
- It is closely associated with the middle of the twentieth century in American use.
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What they receive
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Tim
Masculine · #3181 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tims are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 63,500 people named Tim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tim in 2025?
- Tim ranks #3181 among US boy names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tim?
- About 1 in every 46,164 US boys born in 2025 was named Tim — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tim with classmates?
- Tim will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tim
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Diamond#3181 · Walden#3181 · Tobin#3181 · Keion#3181 · Artem#3181 · Arsh#3181 · Kris#3181 · Esau#3181
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tim? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tim and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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