Niam
Niam was given to 125 boys in 2025, #1,441 among boys’ names; 1,798 Americans have been recorded with it since 1993 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,780 Americans named Niam and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 10.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Niam by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Niam?
#1,441 among boys’ names, 2025
Niam fell from #1,378 in 2015 to #1,441 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 65.7 to 73.2 per million.
169 babies in 2021, the peak
Niam peaked in 2021, when 169 boys were given it, #1,168 among boys’ names. The 125 births of 2025 are 74% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 125 | #1,441 | 73.2 |
| 2024 | 126 | #1,444 | 73.1 |
| 2023 | 133 | #1,394 | 77.8 |
| 2022 | 126 | #1,443 | 72.2 |
| 2021 | 169 | #1,168 | 96.6 |
| 2020 | 141 | #1,294 | 81.7 |
| 2019 | 127 | #1,399 | 70.8 |
| 2018 | 137 | #1,326 | 75.4 |
| 2017 | 130 | #1,370 | 70.2 |
| 2016 | 155 | #1,218 | 81.7 |
Every recorded year (27)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 126 | #1,378 | 65.7 |
| 2014 | 108 | #1,503 | 56.2 |
| 2013 | 41 | #2,828 | 21.7 |
| 2012 | 30 | #3,600 | 15.8 |
| 2011 | 22 | #4,459 | 11.6 |
| 2010 | 20 | #4,792 | 10.4 |
| 2009 | 13 | #6,701 | 6.6 |
| 2008 | 11 | #7,558 | 5.4 |
| 2007 | 7 | #10,549 | 3.4 |
| 2006 | 9 | #8,530 | 4.4 |
| 2004 | 7 | #9,645 | 3.5 |
| 2003 | 5 | #12,182 | 2.5 |
| 2002 | 6 | #10,273 | 3.1 |
| 2001 | 6 | #10,151 | 3.1 |
| 2000 | 6 | #9,948 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,532 | 3.1 |
| 1993 | 6 | #8,365 | 3.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Niam a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Niam has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 27 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Niam: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Niam, and how old are they?
1,780 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,798 Americans ever recorded as Niam. The median Niam alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 10.
The 2020 Census counted 1,061 people named Niam (57 women and girls, 1,004 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,006 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 146 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,630 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Niam born?
The states with the most babies named Niam are California, Texas and Illinois, with 46% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 16 | #1,225 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 14 | #1,392 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 14 | #670 | 2.0× |
| New Jersey | 12 | #596 | 3.0× |
| North Carolina | 10 | #853 | 0.5× |
| New York | 7 | #1,519 | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 7 | #1,069 | 0.8× |
| Maryland | 5 | #885 | 0.6× |
| Washington | 5 | #1,106 | 0.4× |
| Arizona | 5 | #1,002 | 0.2× |
Where Niam is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Niam is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1993 it was given 3.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Niam with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,000 babies since 1880, Niam is the most given (90% of them). In 2025 it was given to 125 of their 147 babies (85%), again the 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Niam
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 Niam and names like it
- Compare Niam and NiyamBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sNiam peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Niam since 1910.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Niam.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Niam alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with NMost given first.