Jimmy
- Pronunciation
- [Ji-mmy]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Variant Of Jacob Supplanter.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Jimmy
Jimmy is an English pet form of James, which itself descends through Latin Jacobus from the Hebrew Ya'akov — the name carried by the biblical patriarch Jacob, traditionally associated with the meaning "supplanter." As an independent given name, Jimmy carries a friendlier, more informal energy than James — a name that steps forward with directness and approachability, long favoured in American public and political life.
Several well-known bearers have defined the name across different fields. Jimmy Carter (born 1924) was the 39th President of the United States, serving from January 1977 to January 1981, and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate whose post-presidential humanitarian work redefined the role of a former American head of state. Jimmy Johnson (born 1943) is an American Hall of Fame former NFL and college football head coach whose career produced one NCAA Division I-A national championship in 1987 and two consecutive Super Bowl victories. Jimmy Kimmel (born 1967) is an American TV host, comedian, and producer whose two-decade tenure hosting ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003–present) has made him a fixture of American late-night television. Jimmy Fallon (born 1974) is an American actor, comedian, TV host, and producer best known for his lead role on NBC's The Tonight Show. Jimmy Connors was born James Scott Connors on September 2, 1952, in East St. Louis, Illinois. Jimmy Durante was born James Francis Durante on February 10, 1893, on New York's Lower East Side.
In US Social Security records, Jimmy entered the top-1000 in 1931 and peaked at #41 in 1944. It has remained continuously present and as recently as 2024 ranked #859 with 282 births, having accumulated more than 234,000 top-1000 births. The one recorded variant is Jamie.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Jimmy
US Popularity History (1931–2025)
Annual US births named Jimmy by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1947 with 7,881 boys named Jimmy (boy rank #44 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #847 for boys (291 US births). That's 803 places below its 1947 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Jimmy Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Jimmy the strongest states are Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas | #418 | 68 |
| 2 | Mississippi | #467 | 54 |
| 3 | South Carolina | #471 | 47 |
| 4 | Nevada | #504 | 28 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | #520 | 60 |
| 6 | California | #527 | 580 |
| 7 | Kentucky | #540 | 48 |
| 8 | Alabama | #566 | 60 |
| 9 | Texas | #581 | 477 |
| 10 | Tennessee | #618 | 99 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana | #918 | 22 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #915 | 45 |
| 3 | Illinois | #900 | 39 |
| 4 | Ohio | #881 | 46 |
| 5 | Michigan | #861 | 32 |
| 6 | Washington | #849 | 48 |
| 7 | Virginia | #822 | 63 |
| 8 | New York | #765 | 163 |
| 9 | Maryland | #748 | 42 |
| 10 | Colorado | #744 | 26 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Jimmy in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie | Pet Form Of James Used As A Woman's Name. | Female | Scottish |
Famous People Named Jimmy
6 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Jimmy.
- Jimmy Carter — US President (1924)
- Jimmy Connors is a former World No.
- Jimmy Durante was an American singer, actor, comedian and pianist.
- Jimmy Fallon — TV Show Host (1974)
- Jimmy Johnson — Coach (1943)
- Jimmy Kimmel — TV Show Host (1967)
Looking for names like Jimmy?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Jimmy to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Jimmy against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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