Recorded 1886–1929 Boys' name Peak 1918 29 births

Ham — boys' name

29 babies named Ham in U.S. Social Security records since 1886, with the highest year being 1918. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

1880s61910s71920s16
1920s
Peak decade

55% of everyone ever named Ham was born in this single decade.

1918
Single peak year

7 babies were named Ham in 1918 — its busiest year on record.

What the Data Says About Ham

The Social Security Administration has registered 29 babies named Ham between 1886 and 1929, spanning 44 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Ham currently falls outside the top 1,000 boys' names for 1929. The name reached its historical peak in 1918, when 7 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Ham performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 16 births during that ten-year window. Across the 3 decades of recorded activity, Ham shows a stable profile with only moderate drift from its peak decade.

No etymological entry is currently available for Ham in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 29 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.

Ham at a glance

Last recorded 1929

Total births

29

Since 1886

44 years of records

Peak year

1918

7 births that year

Strongest decade: 1920s

Current rank

Unranked

Outside the modern top-1,000

As of 1929

Active since

1886

Recorded for 44 years

Last year on file: 1929

Ham popularity over time

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 1929–1886

Last recorded 1929
Peak year (1918)
7
Annual births at peak — across 44 years of records
4.555.566.577.5 19291925192119181886 6

Ham by decade

Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance

Peak: 1920s
Peak decade
1920s
16 births that decade — 55% of Ham's all-time total
1880s61910s71920s16

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Ham?
29 babies have been named Ham since 1886. It was last recorded in 1929. The peak year was 1918 with 7 births.
When was Ham most popular?
Ham was most popular in the 1920s decade with 16 total births. The single peak year was 1918.
How long has the name Ham been used?
Ham has been recorded in Social Security data since 1886, spanning 44 years of data through 1929.
What names are similar to Ham?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Hamza, Hamilton, Hampton, Hamzah, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for boys.

Data Sources

Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1886–1929 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.