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Nam

#9,442 in 2025Boys' name

South

Nam has been given to 1,404 babies in the U.S. since 1975. In 2025 it ranked #9,442 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1984, with 58 recorded.

Babies named Nam, 2025

1 in 414,000

Nam over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nam: meaning, origin, and history

South

Chinese

What Nam means

Nam means “south”.

Origin, language, and formation

Nam is used in Vietnamese. Its origins include Chinese.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Vietnamese, Nam is pronounced [naːm˧˧].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,404 boys were recorded with the name Nam between 1975 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 58 in 1984; its best national rank was #1,209 in 1984.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,186 in 2020 to #9,442 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,754 in 2015 to #9,442 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Nam?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,442
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nam 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nam. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nams were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nam was born before 1994 — so the typical Nam is around 31 today.

Median birth year
1994
About 31 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
32.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
36.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,404
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 32.6% of all recorded uses (458).

Is Nam 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
−677
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,256
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−5,688
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.28×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
13.8%
Peak was 1984 (58)
Years since peak
41
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,209
1984

Where Nam is used

Across 1910–2025, Nam was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 95,102 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 50,000
  2. 2Texas1 in 100,000
  3. 3Louisiana1 in —
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in —
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in —
  6. 6Washington1 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. Nam has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nam around the world

Where Nam 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
    1997–2025
    #3,684
    in 2025
  • France
    1960–2024
    #6,241
    in 2024
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1980–2013
    #754
    in 2013

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

Nam by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,442
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,256
Best rank ever
#1,209
1984
Peak year
1984
58 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,404
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Nam

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

NamirNamanNamonNamariNameerNamishSonamNamorNameEnamNamiNamiriNamierNamariiNamitBehnamNamikoNamaariNamathJonamNamarionBurnamSatnamLeunam

Sibling names for Nam

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 Nam

Top names of 1984, Nam's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1984Boys' names starting with NVietnamese Boy NamesVietnamese Names