Name Awesome

Saleem

#2,533 in 2025Boys' name

Alternate transcription of Salim

Saleem has been given to 1,945 babies in the U.S. since 1960. In 2025 it ranked #2,533 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 72 recorded.

Babies named Saleem, 2025

1 in 62,600

Saleem over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Saleem: meaning, origin, and history

Alternate transcription of Salim

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Saleem means

Saleem is a alternate transcription of Salim.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Saleem → Salim. The family’s meaning is “safe, sound, intact”, recorded in the naming reference for Salim.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Salim.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,945 boys were recorded with the name Saleem between 1960 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 72 in 2024; its best national rank was #1,163 in 1980.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,831 in 2020 to #2,533 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,850 in 2015 to #2,533 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 Saleem?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 62,600
53 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 32,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,533
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
43,358 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Saleem 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 43,358 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Saleem. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Saleems were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Saleem was born before 2005 — so the typical Saleem is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
24.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
57.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,945
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 24.2% of all recorded uses (471).

Is Saleem 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
−441
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+298
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+317
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.26×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
73.6%
Peak was 2024 (72)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,163
1980

Spellings of Saleem

Saleem is not the most common spelling — Kareem is, with 21.8% against Saleem's 2.3%.

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 Saleem is used

Across 2016–2025, Saleem was most concentrated in Pennsylvania — about 1 in 6,250 boys, against 1 in 30,820 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

116 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Pennsylvania1 in 6,250
  2. 2District of Columbia1 in 7,143
  3. 3New York1 in 20,000
  4. 4California1 in 100,000
  5. 5Florida1 in 100,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 100,000
  7. 7New Jersey1 in 100,000
  8. 8Ohio1 in 100,000

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.

Saleem around the world

Where Saleem 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
    1996–2025
    #1,798
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1985–1985
    #311
    in 1985
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,964
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1990–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Saleem by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,533
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 298
Best rank ever
#1,163
1980
Peak year
2024
72 that year
First recorded
1960
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,945
Count in 2025
53

Names similar to Saleem

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

SalmanSalimSalehRakeemSalahSalomonKadeemSalemNaseemJaheemJakeemSalihKaseemNaeemFaheemWaseemNadeemSalaarSalomeHakeemSaliouNaheemKaleemAhkeem

Sibling names for Saleem

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 Saleem

Top names of 2024, Saleem's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1980Boys' names starting with SUrdu Boy NamesUrdu Names