Isam
Isam was given to 7 boys in 2025, #10,076 among boys’ names; 299 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Isam by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Isam mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Isam is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “security, pledge” (عِصَام).
From Arabic عِصَام (ʕiṣām, “security, pledge”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Isam?
#10,076 among boys’ names, 2025
Isam rose from #12,817 in 2015 to #10,076 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 2.6 to 4.1 per million.
11 babies in 1998, the peak
Isam peaked in 1998, when 11 boys were given it, #5,607 among boys’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 64% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #10,076 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 7 | #10,294 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 7 | #10,210 | 4.0 |
| 2021 | 6 | #11,281 | 3.4 |
| 2019 | 5 | #12,894 | 2.8 |
| 2018 | 10 | #7,817 | 5.5 |
| 2017 | 11 | #7,278 | 5.9 |
| 2016 | 7 | #10,070 | 3.7 |
| 2015 | 5 | #12,817 | 2.6 |
| 2014 | 7 | #10,042 | 3.6 |
Every recorded year (46)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 8 | #9,108 | 4.2 |
| 2012 | 5 | #12,979 | 2.6 |
| 2011 | 8 | #9,063 | 4.2 |
| 2010 | 5 | #12,990 | 2.6 |
| 2009 | 7 | #10,257 | 3.5 |
| 2008 | 7 | #10,292 | 3.4 |
| 2007 | 10 | #7,808 | 4.8 |
| 2006 | 7 | #9,968 | 3.4 |
| 2005 | 6 | #10,597 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 7 | #9,301 | 3.5 |
| 2003 | 5 | #11,551 | 2.5 |
| 2002 | 6 | #9,849 | 3.1 |
| 2000 | 5 | #11,045 | 2.5 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,141 | 3.1 |
| 1998 | 11 | #5,607 | 5.8 |
| 1997 | 8 | #6,842 | 4.2 |
| 1996 | 5 | #9,574 | 2.6 |
| 1995 | 5 | #9,400 | 2.6 |
| 1994 | 5 | #9,370 | 2.6 |
| 1993 | 6 | #8,025 | 3.1 |
| 1991 | 8 | #6,159 | 4.0 |
| 1987 | 5 | #7,410 | 2.7 |
| 1983 | 5 | #6,673 | 2.8 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,618 | 4.5 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,698 | 3.2 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,033 | 4.8 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,744 | 5.6 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,505 | 4.5 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,550 | 4.5 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,129 | 7.9 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,638 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,613 | 4.6 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,084 | 5.4 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,036 | 5.6 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,262 | 5.4 |
| 1880 | 5 | #986 | 45.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Isam a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Isam has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 46 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Isam: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Isam, and how old are they?
An estimated 230 Americans named Isam and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (77% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 10 and 28. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 733 people named Isam (6 women and girls, 727 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 207 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 2,296 babies since 1880, Isam is the second most given (13% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 21 babies (33%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Isam and names like it
- Compare Isam and IsomBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sIsam peaked in 1998.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Isam.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Isam alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with IMost given first.