Pam
Pam was last recorded in 1996, when 5 babies were given it; 33,148 Americans have been recorded with it between 1915 and 1996 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 27,200 Americans named Pam and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (82% of everyone recorded); the median is 66 years old and half are between 63 and 68.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pam by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Pam mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Pam is “a diminutive of the female given name Pamela.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Pam?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,208, in 1996; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
3,677 babies in 1959, the peak
Pam peaked in 1959, when 3,677 girls were given it, #125 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 5 | #15,208 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #14,882 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #12,639 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,329 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,902 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 13 | #6,151 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,183 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 9 | #7,552 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 8 | #8,089 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 17 | #4,441 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (65)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 18 | #4,233 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 25 | #3,391 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 14 | #5,164 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 24 | #3,472 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 29 | #2,973 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 32 | #2,662 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 38 | #2,366 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 34 | #2,422 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 53 | #1,772 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 74 | #1,395 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 120 | #994 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 189 | #741 | 0.12 |
| 1971 | 230 | #676 | 0.14 |
| 1970 | 327 | #561 | 0.19 |
| 1969 | 382 | #498 | 0.23 |
| 1968 | 503 | #419 | 0.31 |
| 1967 | 600 | #369 | 0.36 |
| 1966 | 852 | #298 | 0.50 |
| 1965 | 1,218 | #246 | 0.69 |
| 1964 | 1,870 | #196 | 1.0 |
| 1963 | 2,384 | #166 | 1.2 |
| 1962 | 2,811 | #150 | 1.4 |
| 1961 | 3,083 | #144 | 1.5 |
| 1960 | 3,406 | #132 | 1.7 |
| 1959 | 3,677 | #125 | 1.8 |
| 1958 | 3,065 | #139 | 1.5 |
| 1957 | 1,959 | #184 | 1.0 |
| 1956 | 866 | #302 | 0.43 |
| 1955 | 473 | #401 | 0.24 |
| 1954 | 325 | #490 | 0.17 |
| 1953 | 245 | #557 | 0.13 |
| 1952 | 205 | #608 | 0.11 |
| 1951 | 191 | #624 | 0.11 |
| 1950 | 229 | #545 | 0.13 |
| 1949 | 343 | #427 | 0.20 |
| 1948 | 572 | #327 | 0.34 |
| 1947 | 667 | #305 | 0.38 |
| 1946 | 546 | #320 | 0.35 |
| 1945 | 349 | #377 | 0.27 |
| 1944 | 325 | #394 | 0.24 |
| 1943 | 282 | #443 | 0.20 |
| 1942 | 146 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1941 | 72 | #863 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 55 | #968 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,860 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,927 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 23 | #1,617 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 14 | #2,239 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,884 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,372 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,936 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,771 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,962 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #4,184 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,804 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Pam a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Pam has been given almost only to girls: 23 boys in 65 years of records.
Girls and boys named Pam: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pam, and how old are they?
27,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 82% of the 33,148 Americans ever recorded as Pam. The median Pam alive today is 66 years old; half are between 63 and 68.
The 2020 Census counted 44,546 people named Pam (44,434 women and girls, 112 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 29,014 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Pam rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 686 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 22,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,250 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 141 |
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 Pam born?
The states with the most babies named Pam are California, Ohio and Texas, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 3,189 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 2,206 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 1,984 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 1,786 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 1,752 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 1,211 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,115 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 1,078 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Georgia | 1,052 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| New York | 1,041 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Pam is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pam is most over-represented in Washington: since 1915 it was given 1.7 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 girls’ 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 Pam with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Pam
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 Pam and names like it
- Compare Pam and BarbBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sPam peaked in 1959.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pam since 1910.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Pam.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Pam alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.