Sal
Sal was given to 13 boys in 2025, #6,731 among boys’ names; 3,663 Americans have been recorded with it since 1909 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,190 Americans named Sal and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (60% of everyone recorded); the median is 60 years old and half are between 41 and 68.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sal by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sal mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sal is “a diminutive of the male given names Salomon, Salvador, and Salvatore.”
Also “a diminutive of the female given name Sally.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sal?
#6,731 among boys’ names, 2025
Sal entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #6,731 in 2025.
114 babies in 1958, the peak
Sal peaked in 1958, when 114 boys were given it, #701 among boys’ names. The 13 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 13 | #6,731 | 7.6 |
| 2024 | 12 | #7,185 | 7.0 |
| 2023 | 9 | #8,799 | 5.3 |
| 2022 | 11 | #7,659 | 6.3 |
| 2021 | 15 | #5,975 | 8.6 |
| 2020 | 9 | #8,601 | 5.2 |
| 2019 | 7 | #10,603 | 3.9 |
| 2018 | 7 | #10,539 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | 6 | #11,956 | 3.2 |
| 2016 | 16 | #5,740 | 8.4 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 11 | #7,457 | 5.7 |
| 2013 | 5 | #13,696 | 2.6 |
| 2011 | 5 | #13,958 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 8 | #9,506 | 4.2 |
| 2009 | 8 | #9,702 | 4.0 |
| 2008 | 5 | #14,226 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | 5 | #14,013 | 2.4 |
| 2006 | 13 | #6,382 | 6.3 |
| 2005 | 16 | #5,231 | 8.0 |
| 2004 | 15 | #5,434 | 7.6 |
| 2003 | 13 | #5,816 | 6.6 |
| 2002 | 15 | #5,086 | 7.7 |
| 2001 | 23 | #3,696 | 11.8 |
| 2000 | 10 | #6,729 | 5.1 |
| 1999 | 13 | #5,260 | 6.8 |
| 1998 | 14 | #4,822 | 7.3 |
| 1997 | 12 | #5,214 | 6.4 |
| 1996 | 19 | #3,644 | 10.0 |
| 1995 | 22 | #3,167 | 11.6 |
| 1994 | 25 | #2,921 | 12.9 |
| 1993 | 21 | #3,223 | 10.7 |
| 1992 | 30 | #2,447 | 15.0 |
| 1991 | 26 | #2,665 | 12.9 |
| 1990 | 29 | #2,416 | 14.1 |
| 1989 | 19 | #3,178 | 9.5 |
| 1988 | 28 | #2,234 | 14.6 |
| 1987 | 22 | #2,538 | 11.8 |
| 1986 | 17 | #2,983 | 9.2 |
| 1985 | 29 | #2,005 | 15.7 |
| 1984 | 13 | #3,414 | 7.2 |
| 1983 | 15 | #3,046 | 8.4 |
| 1982 | 18 | #2,685 | 9.9 |
| 1981 | 24 | #2,190 | 13.4 |
| 1980 | 18 | #2,703 | 10.1 |
| 1979 | 16 | #2,876 | 9.3 |
| 1978 | 28 | #1,861 | 17.1 |
| 1977 | 18 | #2,541 | 11.0 |
| 1976 | 29 | #1,774 | 18.5 |
| 1975 | 21 | #2,191 | 13.4 |
| 1974 | 27 | #1,785 | 17.2 |
| 1973 | 32 | #1,544 | 20.5 |
| 1972 | 49 | #1,175 | 30.2 |
| 1971 | 52 | #1,145 | 29.4 |
| 1970 | 56 | #1,100 | 30.1 |
| 1969 | 54 | #1,062 | 30.2 |
| 1968 | 54 | #1,014 | 31.1 |
| 1967 | 58 | #953 | 33.3 |
| 1966 | 62 | #931 | 34.8 |
| 1965 | 62 | #941 | 33.3 |
| 1964 | 68 | #926 | 34.1 |
| 1963 | 97 | #776 | 47.8 |
| 1962 | 103 | #756 | 49.8 |
| 1961 | 97 | #778 | 45.7 |
| 1960 | 104 | #756 | 48.8 |
| 1959 | 107 | #740 | 50.1 |
| 1958 | 114 | #701 | 53.7 |
| 1957 | 90 | #792 | 41.7 |
| 1956 | 51 | #1,065 | 24.1 |
| 1955 | 33 | #1,335 | 16.0 |
| 1954 | 19 | #1,813 | 9.3 |
| 1953 | 28 | #1,451 | 14.2 |
| 1952 | 32 | #1,342 | 16.5 |
| 1951 | 27 | #1,449 | 14.3 |
| 1950 | 30 | #1,336 | 16.8 |
| 1949 | 40 | #1,124 | 22.5 |
| 1948 | 44 | #1,070 | 25.1 |
| 1947 | 64 | #873 | 35.0 |
| 1946 | 56 | #889 | 34.5 |
| 1945 | 58 | #827 | 43.1 |
| 1944 | 45 | #973 | 33.0 |
| 1943 | 62 | #845 | 43.4 |
| 1942 | 58 | #866 | 42.0 |
| 1941 | 51 | #895 | 41.5 |
| 1940 | 51 | #888 | 44.0 |
| 1939 | 43 | #970 | 38.8 |
| 1938 | 39 | #1,040 | 35.2 |
| 1937 | 52 | #854 | 48.8 |
| 1936 | 50 | #869 | 48.2 |
| 1935 | 49 | #912 | 47.1 |
| 1934 | 33 | #1,170 | 32.0 |
| 1933 | 37 | #1,090 | 37.3 |
| 1932 | 44 | #1,002 | 42.1 |
| 1931 | 39 | #1,097 | 37.5 |
| 1930 | 19 | #1,743 | 17.3 |
| 1929 | 32 | #1,264 | 29.8 |
| 1928 | 24 | #1,560 | 21.7 |
| 1927 | 34 | #1,263 | 30.2 |
| 1926 | 25 | #1,506 | 22.5 |
| 1925 | 34 | #1,243 | 30.5 |
| 1924 | 28 | #1,449 | 24.7 |
| 1923 | 29 | #1,379 | 26.5 |
| 1922 | 17 | #2,019 | 15.6 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,755 | 19.1 |
| 1920 | 30 | #1,345 | 28.2 |
| 1919 | 26 | #1,442 | 26.5 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,640 | 21.7 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,575 | 23.8 |
| 1916 | 14 | #2,132 | 15.7 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,544 | 24.7 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,595 | 24.4 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,657 | 23.4 |
| 1912 | 15 | #1,257 | 34.9 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,180 | 44.3 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,141 | 48.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Sal a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sal has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 114 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Sal: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sal, and how old are they?
2,190 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 60% of the 3,663 Americans ever recorded as Sal. The median Sal alive today is 60 years old; half are between 41 and 68.
The 2020 Census counted 7,124 people named Sal (286 women and girls, 6,838 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,385 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Sal 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 | 174 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 832 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 553 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 339 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 172 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 120 |
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 Sal born?
The states with the most babies named Sal are New York, California and New Jersey, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 1,430 | not ranked | 4.6× |
| California | 677 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| New Jersey | 190 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Texas | 17 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Connecticut | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Massachusetts | 7 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 6 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| New Mexico | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
Where Sal is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sal is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 4.6 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 Sal 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 50,773 babies since 1880, Sal is the second most given (7.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 13 of their 688 babies (1.9%), the fifth most given that year.
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 Sal
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 Sal and names like it
- Compare Sal and SaulBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sSal peaked in 1958.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sal since 1910.
- The top names of 1958The year the most babies were named Sal.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sal alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.