Lima

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Лима in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, UA Ukraine, Laima in LV Latvia, PL Poland, Talcahuano in CL Chile and Rima in IN India.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Lima is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English surname518K records spelled Lima47 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Bangladesh, United States, Brazil, Ecuador

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Lyma, Limae, Li-Mae, Lïmä, Lïmã

• Bangla surname338K records spelled Lima17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Bangladesh, India, United States, Peru

  Languages: Bangla, Assamese, Odia

  Also written লিমা, Luma, Limaa, Lîmä, Límã

• French surname57K records spelled Lima13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Líma, Limà, Lìmã, Limá, Lïmã

• Hindi surname33K records spelled Lima6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Peru, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Lîma, Limâ, Limà, Líma

• a separate surname29K records spelled Lima4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Li-Ma, Līmā, Limä

• Norwegian Bokmål surname9.8K records spelled Lima12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, United States, Denmark, Peru

  Languages: Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian, Danish

  Also written Lìma, Līmä, Lïmâ, Lïmã, Lîma

• Finnish surname6.2K records spelled Lima5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, India, Netherlands

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Lîma, Lïmä

• Indonesian surname5.9K records spelled Lima2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, United States

  Also written Ļįmã

77 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Lima is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, topographic name for someone living on the banks of the river of this name (of pre-Roman origin, probably akin to a Celtic element lemos, limos ‘elm’).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Spanish, of uncertain derivation; possibly from lima ‘file’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Portuguese, lime (fruit)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, city. OH

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In umb, cultivate. *Lzmbay v. a., slip the memory

  as a word·Vocabulary of the Umbundu Language

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

EC INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024) — 124 years between 1901–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Jorge Ben Jorb. 1942BRnot in their usual nameBrazilian recording artist, musician, songwriter
• Kevin Limab. 1962USAmerican animator and director
• Fernanda Limab. 1977BRBrazilian actress
• Ildefons Limab. 1979ESAndorran association football player
• Adriana Limab. 1981BRBrazilian model
• Floriana Limab. 1981USAmerican actress
• Pepeb. 1983BRnot in their usual namePortuguese association football player
• Hernanesb. 1985BRnot in their usual nameBrazilian association football player
• Jeff Limab. 1990USAmerican actor
• Marilyn Limab. 1995FRFrench actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 483 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Lima?

We estimate roughly 62 thousand people bear Lima (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Lima have the most bearers?

Lima is most frequently recorded in Mexico, where it is most often spelled lima.

How common is Lima compared with other names?

In Mexico, Lima is the 456th most common surname of 198,716 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Lima mean?

Recorded meaning: someone living on the banks of the river of this name (of pre-Roman origin, probably akin to a Celt, element mean¬ ing ‘elm’; cf.