Explore the Family Name Zima

The meaning of Zima

1. Czech, Slovak, Croatian, and Slovenian: from zima ‘winter, cold’, probably a nickname from someone with a gloomy or unapproachable personality, but possibly also a topographic name for someone living in a particularly cold spot. Compare Sima. 2. Czech: from a short form of the personal name Erazim (see Rasmus).

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Zima in the United States?

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Zima saw a slight increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked as the 20,167th most common surname, with 1,229 individuals carrying the name. By 2010, the rank had dropped slightly to 20,996, but the count of individuals with this surname increased by 1.95% to 1,253. Despite this increase in count, the proportion per 100,000 people fell by 8.7%, indicating that while the number of people named Zima grew, the overall population grew at a faster rate.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,167	#20,996	-4.11%
Count	1,229	1,253	1.95%
Proportion per 100k	0.46	0.42	-8.7%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Zima

When looking at the ethnic identity of people who carry the surname Zima, according to the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority are white, making up 95.85% in 2000 and 95.13% in 2010. This represents a small decrease of 0.75%. There were also notable increases in the Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic populations carrying the surname, with increases of 46.94% and 68.42% respectively. However, the Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native populations with this surname did not change in this time period, remaining at 0%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.85%	95.13%	-0.75%
Hispanic	1.14%	1.92%	68.42%
Two or More Races	1.46%	1.6%	9.59%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.49%	0.72%	46.94%
Black	0.65%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.41%	0%	0%