Samuel
Samuel was given to 8,334 boys in 2025, #18 among boys’ names; 823,085 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 624,000 Americans named Samuel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (76% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 16 and 43.
Samuel is the #39 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Samuel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Samuel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Samuel is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “'God has set' or 'God has placed'” (literally).
From Latin Samuēl, from Ancient Greek Σαμουήλ (Samouḗl), from Biblical Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל (šəmûʾēl, literally “'God has set' or 'God has placed'”). Taken to mean a contraction of popular folk etymology שְׁאִלְתִּיו מֵאֵל (“I have asked/borrowed him from God”) (Modern: Šəʾīltīv mēʾĒl, Tiberian: Šĭʾīltīw mēʾĒl) by way of שָׁאוּל מֵאֵל (“asked/borrowed from God”) from 1 Samuel 1:20.
/ˈsæmjuːəl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Samuel?
#18 among boys’ names, 2025
Samuel rose from #23 in 2015 to #18 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born fell from 5.7 to 4.9 per 1,000.
14,845 babies in 2001, the peak
Samuel peaked in 2001, when 14,845 babies were given it (14,813 boys, #26 among boys’ names). The 8,342 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 56% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8,334 | #18 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 8,355 | #17 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 8,038 | #19 | 4.7 |
| 2022 | 8,427 | #19 | 4.8 |
| 2021 | 8,580 | #23 | 4.9 |
| 2020 | 8,594 | #25 | 5.0 |
| 2019 | 9,322 | #22 | 5.2 |
| 2018 | 9,854 | #21 | 5.4 |
| 2017 | 10,449 | #21 | 5.6 |
| 2016 | 10,621 | #21 | 5.6 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 10,905 | #23 | 5.7 |
| 2014 | 11,029 | #23 | 5.7 |
| 2013 | 11,141 | #25 | 5.9 |
| 2012 | 11,470 | #25 | 6.0 |
| 2011 | 11,366 | #26 | 6.0 |
| 2010 | 11,971 | #24 | 6.2 |
| 2009 | 12,181 | #24 | 6.1 |
| 2008 | 12,774 | #27 | 6.3 |
| 2007 | 13,367 | #25 | 6.4 |
| 2006 | 13,652 | #25 | 6.6 |
| 2005 | 14,271 | #21 | 7.1 |
| 2004 | 14,131 | #23 | 7.1 |
| 2003 | 14,691 | #23 | 7.4 |
| 2002 | 14,579 | #25 | 7.5 |
| 2001 | 14,813 | #26 | 7.6 |
| 2000 | 14,188 | #28 | 7.2 |
| 1999 | 14,049 | #27 | 7.3 |
| 1998 | 13,912 | #28 | 7.3 |
| 1997 | 14,237 | #27 | 7.6 |
| 1996 | 13,629 | #30 | 7.2 |
| 1995 | 12,440 | #33 | 6.5 |
| 1994 | 12,147 | #33 | 6.3 |
| 1993 | 11,711 | #37 | 6.0 |
| 1992 | 11,344 | #40 | 5.7 |
| 1991 | 11,234 | #39 | 5.6 |
| 1990 | 10,894 | #45 | 5.3 |
| 1989 | 10,107 | #47 | 5.1 |
| 1988 | 9,564 | #45 | 5.0 |
| 1987 | 8,576 | #50 | 4.6 |
| 1986 | 7,579 | #52 | 4.1 |
| 1985 | 7,009 | #54 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 6,362 | #55 | 3.5 |
| 1983 | 6,195 | #54 | 3.5 |
| 1982 | 6,014 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1981 | 6,036 | #54 | 3.4 |
| 1980 | 6,014 | #54 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 5,687 | #55 | 3.3 |
| 1978 | 5,394 | #57 | 3.3 |
| 1977 | 5,257 | #60 | 3.2 |
| 1976 | 5,025 | #59 | 3.2 |
| 1975 | 4,619 | #61 | 3.0 |
| 1974 | 4,672 | #60 | 3.0 |
| 1973 | 4,267 | #66 | 2.7 |
| 1972 | 4,213 | #66 | 2.6 |
| 1971 | 4,407 | #66 | 2.5 |
| 1970 | 4,558 | #62 | 2.5 |
| 1969 | 4,430 | #64 | 2.5 |
| 1968 | 4,123 | #66 | 2.4 |
| 1967 | 4,232 | #69 | 2.4 |
| 1966 | 4,155 | #81 | 2.3 |
| 1965 | 4,395 | #84 | 2.4 |
| 1964 | 4,462 | #86 | 2.2 |
| 1963 | 4,520 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1962 | 4,552 | #88 | 2.2 |
| 1961 | 4,667 | #89 | 2.2 |
| 1960 | 4,711 | #91 | 2.2 |
| 1959 | 4,953 | #86 | 2.3 |
| 1958 | 5,051 | #85 | 2.4 |
| 1957 | 5,236 | #82 | 2.4 |
| 1956 | 5,585 | #74 | 2.6 |
| 1955 | 5,535 | #71 | 2.7 |
| 1954 | 5,634 | #71 | 2.8 |
| 1953 | 5,423 | #70 | 2.7 |
| 1952 | 5,647 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1951 | 5,476 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1950 | 5,227 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1949 | 5,356 | #62 | 3.0 |
| 1948 | 5,002 | #70 | 2.9 |
| 1947 | 5,110 | #72 | 2.8 |
| 1946 | 4,523 | #70 | 2.8 |
| 1945 | 3,957 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1944 | 3,946 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1943 | 4,143 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1942 | 4,190 | #59 | 3.0 |
| 1941 | 3,538 | #65 | 2.9 |
| 1940 | 3,364 | #65 | 2.9 |
| 1939 | 3,254 | #63 | 2.9 |
| 1938 | 3,243 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1937 | 3,027 | #66 | 2.8 |
| 1936 | 2,893 | #67 | 2.8 |
| 1935 | 3,149 | #62 | 3.0 |
| 1934 | 3,137 | #66 | 3.0 |
| 1933 | 3,111 | #61 | 3.1 |
| 1932 | 3,411 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1931 | 3,379 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1930 | 3,531 | #55 | 3.2 |
| 1929 | 3,567 | #53 | 3.3 |
| 1928 | 3,844 | #52 | 3.5 |
| 1927 | 4,189 | #49 | 3.7 |
| 1926 | 4,180 | #48 | 3.8 |
| 1925 | 4,405 | #46 | 3.9 |
| 1924 | 4,591 | #45 | 4.1 |
| 1923 | 4,578 | #45 | 4.2 |
| 1922 | 4,600 | #43 | 4.2 |
| 1921 | 4,754 | #44 | 4.3 |
| 1920 | 4,654 | #44 | 4.4 |
| 1919 | 4,472 | #43 | 4.6 |
| 1918 | 4,772 | #43 | 4.7 |
| 1917 | 4,490 | #42 | 4.9 |
| 1916 | 4,399 | #41 | 4.9 |
| 1915 | 4,351 | #39 | 5.1 |
| 1914 | 3,703 | #36 | 5.7 |
| 1913 | 2,850 | #36 | 5.6 |
| 1912 | 2,602 | #30 | 6.1 |
| 1911 | 1,398 | #30 | 6.2 |
| 1910 | 1,129 | #32 | 5.8 |
| 1909 | 983 | #32 | 6.0 |
| 1908 | 960 | #33 | 6.2 |
| 1907 | 892 | #32 | 6.1 |
| 1906 | 783 | #33 | 5.9 |
| 1905 | 856 | #30 | 6.5 |
| 1904 | 727 | #34 | 5.7 |
| 1903 | 741 | #31 | 6.2 |
| 1902 | 702 | #33 | 5.7 |
| 1901 | 628 | #33 | 5.9 |
| 1900 | 877 | #33 | 5.8 |
| 1899 | 704 | #30 | 6.6 |
| 1898 | 749 | #32 | 6.1 |
| 1897 | 759 | #28 | 6.7 |
| 1896 | 734 | #31 | 6.1 |
| 1895 | 814 | #25 | 6.9 |
| 1894 | 776 | #26 | 6.7 |
| 1893 | 851 | #20 | 7.6 |
| 1892 | 902 | #20 | 7.4 |
| 1891 | 753 | #20 | 7.4 |
| 1890 | 815 | #20 | 7.3 |
| 1889 | 810 | #20 | 7.3 |
| 1888 | 931 | #18 | 7.7 |
| 1887 | 802 | #18 | 7.9 |
| 1886 | 870 | #18 | 7.9 |
| 1885 | 888 | #18 | 8.2 |
| 1884 | 945 | #17 | 8.3 |
| 1883 | 937 | #17 | 9.0 |
| 1882 | 1,003 | #17 | 8.8 |
| 1881 | 919 | #17 | 9.1 |
| 1880 | 1,024 | #17 | 9.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Samuel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Samuel has been given almost only to boys: 2,889 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Samuel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Samuel, and how old are they?
624,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 76% of the 823,085 Americans ever recorded as Samuel. The median Samuel alive today is 28 years old; half are between 16 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 566,085 people named Samuel (995 women and girls, 565,090 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 600,945 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 12,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 63,800 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 67,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 144,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 212,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 123,000 |
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 Samuel born?
The states with the most babies named Samuel are Texas, California and Florida, with 28% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 987 | #16 | 0.9× |
| California | 821 | #34 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 521 | #22 | 1.0× |
| New York | 374 | #38 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 334 | #13 | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 326 | #21 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 260 | #30 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 260 | #19 | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 249 | #14 | 1.2× |
| Washington | 246 | #9 | 1.0× |
Where Samuel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Samuel is most over-represented in South Carolina: since 1910 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 Samuel 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 833,346 babies since 1880, Samuel is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8,342 of their 8,420 babies (99%), 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 Samuel
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 Samuel and names like it
- Compare Samuel and SamualBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sSamuel peaked in 2001.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Samuel since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Samuel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2001The year the most babies were named Samuel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Samuel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.