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Shmuel

#923 in 2025Boys' name

God, through שְׁמוּאֵל

Shmuel has been given to 5,972 babies in the U.S. since 1953. In 2025 it ranked #923 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 256 recorded.

Babies named Shmuel, 2025

1 in 12,900

Shmuel over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shmuel: meaning, origin, and history

God, through שְׁמוּאֵל

Hebrew

What Shmuel means

Shmuel belongs to the name family reached through Shmuel → שְׁמוּאֵל. Its meaning is “god”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Yiddish שמואל (Shmuel), from Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל (šəmūʾḗl).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Shmuel (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Shmuel is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Shmuel comes through Yiddish שמואל and Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Samuel and שְׁמוּאֵל.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,972 boys were recorded with the name Shmuel between 1953 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 256 in 2025; its best national rank was #919 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,029 in 2020 to #923 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,016 in 2015 to #923 in 2025.

How common is Shmuel?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 12,900
256 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 6,670
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#923
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
8,977 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shmuel 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 5004%

Put another way: gather 8,977 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shmuel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shmuels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shmuel was born before 2011 — so the typical Shmuel is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
31.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
71.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
5,972
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 31.0% of all recorded uses (1,850).

Is Shmuel 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
+45
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+106
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+93
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.28×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (256)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#919
2022

Spellings of Shmuel

Shmuel is not the most common spelling — Samuel is, with 95.9% against Shmuel's 0.70%.

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 Shmuel is used

Across 2016–2025, Shmuel was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 418 boys, against 1 in 3,258 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

1239 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 418
  2. 2New York1 in 1,031
  3. 3Maryland1 in 6,667
  4. 4Illinois1 in 20,000
  5. 5Florida1 in 25,000
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 33,333
  7. 7California1 in 50,000
  8. 8Michigan1 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.

Shmuel around the world

Where Shmuel 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
    #1,406
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #2,550
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Shmuel

People whose public names include Shmuel, 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.

Shmuel in other languages

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

SamuelSamuilSamueleSámuelShmuel / Shemuwel

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

Shmuel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#923
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 106
Best rank ever
#919
2022
Peak year
2025
256 that year
First recorded
1953
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,972
Count in 2025
256

Names similar to Shmuel

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

LemuelShmielImmanuelMarquelSammuelBenuelKemuelMiquelReuelJanuelRuelShmayaAmanuelEmanuelEnmanuelNahuelJuelMiguelManuelAnuelShmeilJosuelJemuelJaquel

Names with a curve like Shmuel

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

YaakovShlomoYitzchokMikaelShimonYisroelAvrahamMordechaiJerichoMustafaYehudaAmeer

Sibling names for Shmuel

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 Shmuel

Top names of 2025, Shmuel's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2022Boys' names starting with S