Meaning & origin
What it means
Mims is a diminutive of Miriam. Miriam possibly goes back to Aramaic מרים (Maryām), meaning “bitter.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Mims is a diminutive of Miriam. Miriam possibly comes from Hebrew, and ultimately from Aramaic.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In English usage, Mims is a diminutive of Miriam.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1921. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Mims is a diminutive of Miriam. The history of Miriam gives this family its wider story. Miriam appears in biblical tradition, giving it a longstanding religious and cultural context.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Mims through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 35
- 35 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1947
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1953. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 9 in 1947. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 119 as a first name in 2020; 18,754 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Mims’s family of names
In English usage, Mims is a diminutive of Miriam. In English usage, Mims as a surname has a related form in MIMMS.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Mims
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Mims, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Michaels
“who is like God?”
>99% boys
Michel
“who is like God?”
76% boys · 24% girls
Tommey
“twin”
>99% boys
Ike
“full of laughter” · “a man from France; one who is free”
>99% boys
Thoma
“twin”
80% boys · 20% girls
Buz
“contempt”
>99% boys
Sammy
“God has heard” · “asked of God”
84% boys · 16% girls
Deuel
“invocation of God”
>99% boys