Lem
Lem was last recorded in 1983, when 6 babies were given it; 1,297 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1983 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lem by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Lem?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #5,926, in 1983; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
39 babies in 1917, the peak
Lem peaked in 1917, when 39 boys were given it, #1,073 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 6 | #5,926 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,426 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 6 | #4,700 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 5 | #4,758 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 5 | #4,287 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,228 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,173 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 6 | #3,855 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,404 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,785 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (90)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 7 | #3,457 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,758 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 8 | #3,152 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,099 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,721 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,861 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 7 | #3,286 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,612 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,103 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 15 | #1,978 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 13 | #2,179 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,175 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 7 | #3,246 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,536 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,327 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 10 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 10 | #2,482 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 16 | #1,837 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,274 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 17 | #1,717 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,121 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,410 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,062 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,018 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 19 | #1,630 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 14 | #1,981 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 17 | #1,743 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 17 | #1,815 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,809 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,243 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 20 | #1,709 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,588 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,088 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,635 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 27 | #1,438 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 27 | #1,472 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 21 | #1,728 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 28 | #1,423 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 32 | #1,311 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 23 | #1,620 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 31 | #1,287 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 34 | #1,204 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 39 | #1,073 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,623 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 27 | #1,288 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 22 | #1,289 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,749 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,487 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 12 | #1,017 | 0.05 |
| 1910 | 14 | #841 | 0.07 |
| 1909 | 12 | #873 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,309 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 9 | #966 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,067 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 9 | #881 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 10 | #788 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 7 | #966 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 13 | #630 | 0.11 |
| 1901 | 7 | #902 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,247 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 16 | #493 | 0.15 |
| 1898 | 21 | #445 | 0.17 |
| 1897 | 14 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 16 | #526 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 13 | #590 | 0.11 |
| 1894 | 13 | #583 | 0.11 |
| 1893 | 12 | #592 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 23 | #401 | 0.19 |
| 1891 | 10 | #622 | 0.10 |
| 1890 | 17 | #451 | 0.15 |
| 1889 | 21 | #397 | 0.19 |
| 1888 | 13 | #573 | 0.11 |
| 1887 | 11 | #569 | 0.11 |
| 1886 | 21 | #391 | 0.19 |
| 1885 | 18 | #430 | 0.17 |
| 1884 | 12 | #560 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 24 | #345 | 0.23 |
| 1882 | 25 | #362 | 0.22 |
| 1881 | 19 | #391 | 0.19 |
| 1880 | 12 | #547 | 0.11 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Lem a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lem has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 90 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lem: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lem, and how old are they?
An estimated 180 Americans named Lem and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (14% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 66 and 80. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 477 people named Lem (61 women and girls, 416 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 242 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Lem rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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 5 names spelled alike, given to 2,231 babies since 1880, Lem is the most given (58% of them). In 2025 none of their 24 babies recorded by SSA was a Lem (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lem
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Lem and names like it
- Compare Lem and LeamBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sLem peaked in 1917.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lem since 1910.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Lem.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Lem alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with LMost given first.