Ximena
Meaning
listener
Say it: hee-MEH-nah (in Spanish the X sounds like H)
Goes by Xime
The story
Ximena is medieval Spain kept alive in modern spelling. The name belonged to Jimena Diaz, wife of El Cid, a thousand years ago, and its traditional reading is listener, through the same current that gives us Simon. The X is the old Spanish orthography that Mexico deliberately kept, the same letter that anchors Mexico, Oaxaca and Texas, so the spelling itself carries a flag. The American record shows the arrival: about 390 girls in the 1990s, 6,800 in the 2000s, 21,000 in the 2010s, and 11,300 so far this decade. In our records it is a girls' name outright, about 39,700 to thirteen. Xime is the everyday short form families actually use. A name this old with a spelling this pointed manages a rare trick: it honors a grandmother's language while looking, on an American class list, like the newest thing in the room.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ximena peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
269 people · the #20,585 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 34
Among people named Ximena living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Ximena
Most people given the name Ximena in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Ximena deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ximena truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ximena fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Ximena travels
Mexican American · a name that has climbed quickly in popularity among Mexican-American families
Spanish · one who listens, God has heard
Keep exploring
Names like Ximena · Nicknames for Ximena · Middle names for Ximena · Spanish baby names · Mexican American baby names
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