Jim

Where Jim comes from

The dictionaries list Jim as a given name — a diminutive of the male given name James — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 1 syllable
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #49 among boys — 345 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1882
    Peak, #45
    396 babies named Jim — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1928
    Jim Lovell born
    American astronaut
  4. 1953
    Jim Jarmusch born
    American film director, screenwriter and actor
  5. 1989
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #708.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the male given name James.
Namesakes
  • Jim Lovell · American astronaut, 1928–2025
  • Jim Jarmusch · American film director, screenwriter and actor, born 1953
  • Jim Thorpe · American track and field athlete and baseball player, died 1953
  • Jim Clark · British racecar driver, 1936–1968
  • Jim Meskimen · American actor, born 1959

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.