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Simba

#6,394 in 2025Boys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Simba has been given to 171 babies in the U.S. since 1994. In 2025 it ranked #6,394 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 28 recorded.

Babies named Simba, 2025

1 in 237,000

Simba over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Simba: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Swahili

What Simba means

Simba has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: “strength”.

The naming story behind Simba

One of the source’s documented entries for Simba records a meaning of power, strength.

One of the source’s documented entries for Simba records a meaning of lion.

Origin, language, and formation

Simba is used in English and Shona. Its origins include Swahili.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 171 boys were recorded with the name Simba between 1994 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 28 in 2023; its best national rank was #3,982 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,419 in 2020 to #6,394 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Simba?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 122,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,394
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Simba sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Simba. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Simbas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Simba was born before 2021 — so the typical Simba is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
61.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
91.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
171
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 61.4% of all recorded uses (105).

Is Simba rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+1,282
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−975
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
50.0%
Peak was 2023 (28)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,982
2023

Spellings of Simba

Simba is not the most common spelling — Simon is, with 92.5% against Simba's 0.23%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Simba around the world

Where Simba ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2004–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025
  • France
    1996–2017
    #6,250
    in 2017
  • Canada
    2021–2021
    #2,989
    in 2021

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Simba by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,394
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 975
Best rank ever
#3,982
2023
Peak year
2023
28 that year
First recorded
1994
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
171
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Simba

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SimsSimirDembaSimranSimarSambaSimuelSimoneSimaoSimchaSimereSimmonSimionSymbaSimmieSimpsonSimeonSimmsSimmonsSimTambaLumumbaSimiSimmeon

Sibling names for Simba

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Simba

Top names of 2023, Simba's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Boys' names starting with SSwahili Boy Names