Sami
Sami is given to both girls and boys: 27 girls and 193 boys were given it in 2025 (#4,968 among girls’ names and #1,114 among boys’, #2,082 among all names counting both); 6,727 Americans have been recorded with it since 1945 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,530 Americans named Sami and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 20 years old and half are between 10 and 32.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sami by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sami mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sami is “a male given name from Arabic, feminine equivalent Samiyah.” Its etymology gives the sense “high, exalted” (سَامٍ).
Also “a diminutive of the female given name Samantha.”
Derived from Arabic سَامِي (sāmī), from the informal pronunciation of سَامٍ (sāmin, “high, exalted”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sami?
#1,114 among boys’ names, 2025
Sami rose from #1,133 in 2015 to #1,114 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.09 to 0.11 per 1,000.
220 babies in 2025, the peak
Sami peaked in 2025, when 220 babies were given it (193 boys, #1,114 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 156 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 27 | #4,968 | 193 | #1,114 |
| 2024 | 21 | #5,926 | 156 | #1,269 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,973 | 147 | #1,308 |
| 2022 | 32 | #4,451 | 123 | #1,476 |
| 2021 | 16 | #7,200 | 137 | #1,356 |
| 2020 | 28 | #4,733 | 137 | #1,319 |
| 2019 | 17 | #6,964 | 122 | #1,440 |
| 2018 | 26 | #5,122 | 160 | #1,192 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,376 | 174 | #1,113 |
| 2016 | 23 | #5,766 | 164 | #1,165 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,546 | 168 | #1,133 |
| 2014 | 21 | #6,172 | 148 | #1,235 |
| 2013 | 21 | #6,211 | 134 | #1,294 |
| 2012 | 25 | #5,531 | 124 | #1,366 |
| 2011 | 14 | #8,546 | 144 | #1,218 |
| 2010 | 26 | #5,382 | 137 | #1,277 |
| 2009 | 24 | #5,855 | 140 | #1,264 |
| 2008 | 22 | #6,314 | 155 | #1,167 |
| 2007 | 26 | #5,496 | 139 | #1,269 |
| 2006 | 22 | #6,091 | 135 | #1,247 |
| 2005 | 39 | #3,790 | 132 | #1,207 |
| 2004 | 23 | #5,514 | 139 | #1,138 |
| 2003 | 23 | #5,374 | 123 | #1,202 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,975 | 124 | #1,150 |
| 2001 | 18 | #6,255 | 126 | #1,120 |
| 2000 | 20 | #5,653 | 94 | #1,356 |
| 1999 | 10 | #9,339 | 95 | #1,288 |
| 1998 | 31 | #3,809 | 91 | #1,313 |
| 1997 | 25 | #4,345 | 106 | #1,157 |
| 1996 | 25 | #4,282 | 103 | #1,151 |
| 1995 | 22 | #4,644 | 75 | #1,362 |
| 1994 | 35 | #3,285 | 88 | #1,237 |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,881 | 85 | #1,232 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,575 | 84 | #1,231 |
| 1991 | 27 | #3,909 | 82 | #1,227 |
| 1990 | 18 | #5,230 | 71 | #1,320 |
| 1989 | 18 | #5,004 | 75 | #1,250 |
| 1988 | 28 | #3,453 | 65 | #1,279 |
| 1987 | 35 | #2,834 | 44 | #1,605 |
| 1986 | 15 | #5,135 | 47 | #1,470 |
| 1985 | 15 | #5,031 | 46 | #1,476 |
| 1984 | 17 | #4,451 | 43 | #1,477 |
| 1983 | 18 | #4,243 | 48 | #1,357 |
| 1982 | 22 | #3,734 | 31 | #1,847 |
| 1981 | 15 | #4,907 | 24 | #2,192 |
| 1980 | 11 | #6,231 | 23 | #2,274 |
| 1979 | 21 | #3,751 | 22 | #2,297 |
| 1978 | 25 | #3,173 | 31 | #1,749 |
| 1977 | 19 | #3,882 | 19 | #2,442 |
| 1976 | 28 | #2,783 | 30 | #1,740 |
| 1975 | 18 | #3,737 | 20 | #2,271 |
| 1974 | 24 | #2,986 | 17 | #2,439 |
| 1973 | 17 | #3,758 | 12 | #2,988 |
| 1972 | 19 | #3,374 | 12 | #2,958 |
| 1971 | 19 | #3,473 | 15 | #2,534 |
| 1970 | 19 | #3,408 | 15 | #2,491 |
| 1969 | 16 | #3,587 | 7 | #3,875 |
| 1968 | 19 | #3,035 | 12 | #2,550 |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,305 | 14 | #2,232 |
| 1966 | 20 | #2,825 | 11 | #2,599 |
| 1965 | 17 | #3,132 | 11 | #2,595 |
| 1964 | 20 | #2,891 | 11 | #2,635 |
| 1963 | 13 | #3,766 | 6 | #3,977 |
| 1962 | 13 | #3,740 | 10 | #2,819 |
| 1961 | 8 | #5,222 | 6 | #3,999 |
| 1960 | 10 | #4,404 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 12 | #3,784 | 6 | #3,924 |
| 1957 | 13 | #3,455 | 10 | #2,800 |
| 1956 | 6 | #5,840 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 5 | #4,310 | |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,472 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 6 | #5,562 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,894 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,986 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 5 | #5,135 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Sami a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 6,727 Americans recorded as Sami, 21% are girls and 79% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Sami: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sami, and how old are they?
6,530 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 6,727 Americans ever recorded as Sami. The median Sami alive today is 20 years old; half are between 10 and 32.
The 2020 Census counted 9,683 people named Sami (2,061 women and girls, 7,622 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,589 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 136 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 528 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,330 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,240 |
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 Sami born?
The states with the most babies named Sami are California, Texas and Virginia, with 41% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Virginia is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 27 | #1,008 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 23 | #1,287 | 0.6× |
| Virginia | 17 | #471 | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 15 | #625 | 1.0× |
| New York | 14 | #944 | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 14 | #598 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 13 | #707 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 12 | #1,115 | 0.7× |
| New Jersey | 8 | #820 | 1.4× |
| Massachusetts | 7 | #684 | 1.0× |
Where Sami is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sami is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1945 it was given 1.4 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 Sami 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 82,747 babies since 1880, Sami is the third most given (8.1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 220 of their 462 babies (48%), the 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 Sami
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 Sami and names like it
- Compare Sami and SammyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sSami peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sami since 1910.
- Arabic namesWiktionary’s origin for Sami: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Sami.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Sami alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.