How Many People Are Named Shem?
people named Shem are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 476,023 people in the US has this name
Based on 755 babies named Shem in Social Security records from 1954 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎💎 Very Rare
Peak Year
23 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Means "name" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Shem is one of Noah's three sons (along with Japheth and Ham) and the ancestor of the Semitic peoples.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Related & Similar Names
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Shem, 0.6% were girls and 99.4% were boys. The share has stayed close to this since the 1970s: 3.1% of the babies were girls then and 0% in the 2010s.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Shem alive today is about 29 years old, and 49% are under 30. Half of them were between 12 and 45 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Shem first appears in the records in 1954 and was given most often in 1976, to 23 babies. In 2025, 10 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1954 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Shem has never been one of the 100 most popular boys' names. Its best rank was #2,102, in 1976. In 2025 it ranked #8,143.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #8,143 |
| Best rank | #2,102 (1976) |
| Years in the top 100 | None |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #2,578 in the 1970s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Shem alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Shem were born in New York than in any other state: about 14 of those alive today.
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