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Salem

#436 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Salem has been given to 11,178 babies in the U.S. since 1976. In 2025 it ranked #436 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 734 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 58% girls, 42% boys all-time.

Babies named Salem, 2025

1 in 4,660

Salem over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Salem over time

In 2025, Salem went to 64% girls and 36% boys.

19122025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Salem: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Hebrew and Arabic

What Salem means

Salem has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

Origin, language, and formation

Salem is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew and Arabic.

Salem comes through Biblical Hebrew שָׁלֵם.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include سَالِم.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Salem is pronounced /ˈseɪləm/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,491 girls were recorded with the name Salem between 1976 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 734 in 2023; its best national rank was #417 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #608 in 2020 to #436 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,433 in 2015 to #436 in 2025.

In the United States, 4,687 boys were recorded with the name Salem between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 442 in 2024; its best national rank was #631 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #808 in 2020 to #679 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,286 in 2015 to #679 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 Salem?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 4,660
711 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 2,260
0.04% of girls
Rank, 2025
#436
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
3,233 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Salem sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 1002%
School of 50010%

Put another way: gather 3,233 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Salem. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Salems were born

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

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
61.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
94.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,491
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 61.0% of all recorded uses (3,957).

Is Salem 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
−4
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+172
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+997
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
4.39×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
96.9%
Peak was 2023 (734)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#417
2023

Spellings of Salem

Salem is not the most common spelling — Sally is, with 37.6% against Salem's 1.2%.

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 Salem is used — girls

Across 2016–2025, Salem was most concentrated in Kentucky — about 1 in 980 girls, against 1 in 2,898 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 33,333).

3102 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kentucky1 in 980
  2. 2North Carolina1 in 1,031
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 1,149
  4. 4West Virginia1 in 1,163
  5. 5Arkansas1 in 1,370
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 1,389
  7. 7Nevada1 in 1,429
  8. 8Indiana1 in 1,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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.

Geographically, Salem is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 61% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Where Salem is used — boys

Across 2016–2025, Salem was most concentrated in Kentucky — about 1 in 2,174 boys, against 1 in 5,851 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 100,000).

146 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kentucky1 in 2,174
  2. 2West Virginia1 in 2,381
  3. 3Indiana1 in 2,703
  4. 4Oklahoma1 in 2,778
  5. 5Tennessee1 in 3,448
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 3,571
  7. 7Ohio1 in 3,846
  8. 8Utah1 in 4,167

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.

Salem around the world

Where Salem 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
    2001–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024
  • France
    2020–2020
    #7,559
    in 2020
  • Canada
    2005–2024
    #870
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2002–2002
    #730
    in 2002

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.

Notable people named Salem

People whose public names include Salem, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Salem in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Salem. Linked forms have their own page here.

SlimSelimSaleem

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Salem by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#436
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 172
Best rank ever
#417
2023
Peak year
2023
734 that year
First recorded
1976
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,491
Count in 2025
711

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#679
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 129
Best rank ever
#631
2023
Peak year
2024
442 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,687
Count in 2025
400

Names similar to Salem

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

SalmaSalinaSalenaSalomeSalwaSaleenSallieSalomaSalimaSalamHarlemSallySaloniSalahSalliSaliaSallyeSalihaSalaSaliyahSaleahSalayaSalehaSalimah

Names with a curve like Salem

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Salem, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MalaniElodieDreamAilaniOakleeNavyLegacyNoahHaisleyAmaiaRayaSylvie

Sibling names for Salem

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 Salem

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