Name Awesome

Lem

Boys' name

Short form of Lemuel

Lem has been given to 1,297 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1917, with 39 recorded.

Babies named Lem, 1983

1 in 577,000

Lem over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Lem: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Lemuel

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Lem means

Lem is a short form of Lemuel.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Lem is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈlɛm/ for Lem.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Lem → Lemuel. The family’s meaning is “devoted to God”, recorded in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Lemuel.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,297 boys were recorded with the name Lem between 1880 and 1983. Its highest annual count was 39 in 1917; its best national rank was #345 in 1883.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Lem?

Lem had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1983, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1983
1 in 577,000
6 of 3,463,011 births
Among boys only
1 in 299,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1983
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
400,064 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Lem 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 1983 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 400,064 children born in 1983 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Lem. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Lems were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Lem was born before 1920 — so the typical Lem is around 105 today.

Median birth year
1920
About 105 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
5.2%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
151
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.4% of all recorded uses (239).

Is Lem 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
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1917 (39)
Years since peak
108
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#345
1883

Where Lem is used

Across 1910–2025, Lem was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 411,059 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 100,000
  2. 2Alabama1 in —
  3. 3Georgia1 in —
  4. 4North Carolina1 in —
  5. 5Tennessee1 in —
  6. 6Texas1 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. Lem has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Lem around the world

Where Lem 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.

  • South Australia
    2006–2006
    #657
    in 2006

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Lem by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#345
1883
Peak year
1917
39 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
1983
All-time count
1,297
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Lem

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

LemarLemonKalemLemanAlemShulemCalemLemmySalemLemontLemmieWillemLemuelClemHarlemFlemLemoyneKaylemKaelemLemondLemarcusLemualLemoineLemel

Sibling names for Lem

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 Lem

Top names of 1917, Lem's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1883Boys' names starting with L