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Alem

#7,210 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Alim

Alem has been given to 242 babies in the U.S. since 1987. In 2025 it ranked #7,210 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 16 recorded.

Babies named Alem, 2025

1 in 301,000

Alem over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alem: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Alim

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Alem means

Alem is a form of Alim.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Alem → Alim. The family’s meaning is “learned, expert, scholar”, recorded in the naming reference for Alim.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alim.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 242 boys were recorded with the name Alem between 1987 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 16 in 2006; its best national rank was #5,307 in 2006.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #7,047 in 2020 to #7,210 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,515 in 2015 to #7,210 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.

How common is Alem?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 301,000
11 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 155,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#7,210
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
208,901 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alem 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 208,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alem. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alems were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alem was born before 2011 — so the typical Alem is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
43.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
242
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 43.4% of all recorded uses (105).

Is Alem 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
−163
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,695
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.69×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
68.8%
Peak was 2006 (16)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,307
2006

Spellings of Alem

Alem is not the most common spelling — Adam is, with 16.9% against Alem's <0.01%.

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.

Alem around the world

Where Alem 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
    2007–2007
    #4,333
    in 2007
  • France
    1998–2025
    #5,991
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    2004–2008
    #726
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Alem by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#7,210
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 163
Best rank ever
#5,307
2006
Peak year
2006
16 that year
First recorded
1987
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
242
Count in 2025
11

Names similar to Alem

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

AlephAleksAleoAleemAlekiAlericAlekaiAlessoAlejoAlexaAlexyAlenAlexeyAlegendAleksiAlexxFlemAlexiosCalemAleeAlexiAlexusAlexizAlexio

Sibling names for Alem

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 Alem

Top names of 2006, Alem's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2006Boys' names starting with A