Recorded 1886–2025 · United States
Ima was most popular in 1927, when 232 American babies were given the name — ranking #826 that year. In 2025 it ranked #20,040, with 7 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 6,806 people named Ima.
Ima first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1886, which makes it about 139 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 104 of the 140 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 6,806 American births named Ima between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 1,411 are estimated to be alive today.
7 American babies were named Ima in 2025, ranking #20,040 that year.
Ima is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 7 births a year across 2021–2025 against 6 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Ima is a girl’s name — 100.0% of the 6,806 Americans given it were girls and 0.0% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 1,411 Americans named Ima are alive today — 21% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 82 years old, and half are between 73 and 89.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Ima on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org