Boys' name · since 1987

Alem

242 babies named Alem in U.S. Social Security records since 1987, with the highest year being 2006. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

#11,852 of 45,481
all-time among boys
#7,376 of 13,930
2025 SSA year
242
born since 1987
2010s
peak decade

Alem currently ranks #7376 among boys' names in America, with 242 babies recorded since 1987.

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Alem has been recorded 242 times among boys since 1987, currently ranked #7376 nationally and more common than 47% of boys, with its heaviest use in the 2010s. This profile covers year-by-year birth trends, decade totals, and state-level distribution, all derived directly from SSA birth-registration files spanning 1987 to 2025.

  • #11,852 of 45,481 all-time among boys
  • #7,376 of 13,930 2025 SSA year
  • 242 born since 1987
  • 2010s peak decade

Data updated Aug 2026

The verdict

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Alem ranks #11,852 of 45,481 boys' names by all-time recorded births (highest first) and #7,376 of 13,930 among boys' names in 2025. 242 born since 1987, peaking in the 2010s.

#11,852 of 45,481
all-time among boys
#7,376 of 13,930
2025 SSA year
242
born since 1987
2010s
peak decade
0%100%Median name50%47%
Alem vs. every other boys name in current SSA rankings
Below the archive median
All-time archive position

Alem's 242 recorded births place it above 73.9% of the 45,481 boys names in the full SSA archive.

National only
State-record footprint

No state rows cleared SSA’s public reporting threshold for this name.

How Alem compares

242 41st percentile among 13,930 names currently given to boys

Based on all-time total births among currently-ranked boys names. Names with fewer occurrences are grouped into wider buckets on the right.

Source U.S. Social Security Administration, national baby name data

How the numbers stack up

Alem's all-time total is 34% below the median boys name, and Liam still leads by a wide margin.

Metric Alem Median boys name (Takari) #1 boys name (Liam)
All-time total births 242 369 358,536
Peak-year births 16 34 22,252

Alem's usage pattern, beyond the headline number

Divide Alem's SSA record in two at 2011 and the more recent half accounts for 55% of all births, the earlier half the remaining 45%, a genuinely balanced usage pattern. Its calmest year was 1997, with only 5 births recorded -- set against the 2006 peak of 16, that's the full swing in one name's fortunes.

Alem popularity over time

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 1987–2025

Outside the top 1,000
Peak year (2006)
16
Annual births at peak, across 39 years of records
05101520 19872002200620102014201820232025 11

Alem by decade

2010s is the heaviest window (105 births, 43% of the file).

2010s was Alem's strongest decade.

105 babies received the name during that ten-year window, about 43% of all-time use.

Alem births by decade

Total births in each ten-year window

births

What this shows Peak: 2010s at 105 births (43% of all-time use).

Source U.S. Social Security Administration · Baby Names As of August 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Alem?
Alem has been given to 242 babies in the U.S. since 1987, according to SSA data. Its archive ordinal is #11,852 of 45,481 among boys' names (total births, highest first). Among boys in 2025, it is #7,376 of 13,930. 16 babies were born in 2006, its single highest year.
Where does Alem sit in the SSA name archive?
According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Alem ranks #11,852 of 45,481 boys' names by all-time recorded births (highest first) and #7,376 of 13,930 among boys' names in 2025. All-time ordinal matches browse popularity (total births DESC); the current ordinal uses the 2025 SSA file. See /methodology#corpus-placement.
When was Alem most popular?
Alem was most popular in the 2010s decade with 105 total births. The single peak year was 2006.
How long has the name Alem been used?
The SSA has tracked Alem since 1987 -- 39 years through the most recent 2025 data.
What names are similar to Alem?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Alexander, Alex, Alejandro, Alexis, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for boys.

What to do with Alem's data

  • Alem's usage has stayed within range of its 2010s decade-level peak (105 total births) through the 2020s (37) -- a comparatively stable name, not a fading trend.

Figures reflect SSA-reported births only; see the methodology above for the privacy-suppression floor.

Keep exploring Alem

Nearby Names Like Alem

Names with a similar sound, spelling, or feel to Alem

Names with a similar popularity rank to Alem

Nationwide names with similar peak year or record span

Two nationwide peer axes for Alem: closest SSA peak year, and closest first→latest record span. Distinct from the spelling and current-rank neighborhoods above.

Peak year is the single SSA year with the most births for that name; record span is first-to-latest year in the national files, not a recommendation or shared origin claim.

Data Sources

Data as of August 2026. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

According to the Social Security Administration, this profile draws directly from the agency's public-use baby-name files (updated June 2026). See our methodology for the full extraction, aggregation, and privacy-suppression rules.

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications, National Data, 1987–2025 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames).

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names, State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip).

Name Almanac is rendered directly from the Social Security Administration's public baby-name files, no number is typed in by an editor. This profile for Alem draws directly on SSA national and state-level files, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.