Balam

#4,561 in 2025Boys' name

Jaguar

Balam has been given to 96 babies in the U.S. since 1993. In 2025 it ranked #4,561 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 22 recorded.

Babies named Balam, 2025

1 in 151,000

Balam over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Balam: meaning, origin, and history

Jaguar

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Balam means

Balam means “jaguar”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 96 boys were recorded with the name Balam between 1993 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 22 in 2025; its best national rank was #4,561 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #9,676 in 2020 to #4,561 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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Balam?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 151,000; 22 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 77,600; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #4,561; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 104,451 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Balam 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 104,451 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Balam. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Balams were born

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

Median birth year: 2021; About 4 years old
Biggest decade: 2020s; 64.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 94.8%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 96; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2020s — 64.6% of all recorded uses (62).

Is Balam 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: +3,268; Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago: +5,115; Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 100.0%; Peak was 2025 (22)
Years since peak: Peaking now; At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 44.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #4,561; 2025

Spellings of Balam

Balam is not the most common spelling — Adam is, with 58.8% against Balam's <0.01%.

Adam58.8%580,378
Alan36.8%363,313
Bilal0.59%5,858
Salem0.47%4,687
Talan0.40%3,982
Calum0.35%3,506
Aram0.34%3,310
Elam0.30%2,940

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.

Where Balam is used

Across 1910–2025, Balam was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,136,895 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1California1 in —
2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Balam has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Balam around the world

Where Balam 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.

France
2021–2021
#6,712
in 2021

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Balam by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #4,561
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Up 5,115
Best rank ever: #4,561; 2025
Peak year: 2025; 22 that year
First recorded: 1993
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 96
Count in 2025: 22

Names similar to Balam

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

Balor Baley Baldo Balen Dylam Aslam Balian Eilam Aalam Milam Balraj Balin Balke Dilam Salam Bali Balal Islam Balil Balmore Balaj Alam Balthazar Ballard

Sibling names for Balam

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

For a sister

Leonor Karleigh Keren Kendyl Anabel Adelle Annabell Hayleigh

For a brother

Evans Hamilton Caesar Tobin Jerimiah Jorden Leander Henri

Explore around Balam

Top names of 2025, Balam's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 2025 Boys' names starting with B