Seamus
Seamus was given to 154 boys in 2025, #1,280 among boys’ names; 7,809 Americans have been recorded with it since 1957 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,620 Americans named Seamus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 12 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Seamus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Seamus mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Seamus is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the sense “James” (Séamas).
Anglicization of Irish Séamas (“James”), itself from English James.
/ˈʃeɪməs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Seamus?
#1,280 among boys’ names, 2025
Seamus fell from #946 in 2015 to #1,280 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.12 to 0.09 per 1,000.
298 babies in 2008, the peak
Seamus peaked in 2008, when 298 boys were given it, #753 among boys’ names. The 154 births of 2025 are 52% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 154 | #1,280 | 0.09 |
| 2024 | 125 | #1,457 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 137 | #1,366 | 0.08 |
| 2022 | 143 | #1,319 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 158 | #1,223 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 161 | #1,195 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 197 | #1,046 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 178 | #1,106 | 0.10 |
| 2017 | 211 | #979 | 0.11 |
| 2016 | 218 | #953 | 0.11 |
Every recorded year (69)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 221 | #946 | 0.12 |
| 2014 | 239 | #903 | 0.12 |
| 2013 | 247 | #864 | 0.13 |
| 2012 | 259 | #838 | 0.14 |
| 2011 | 258 | #837 | 0.14 |
| 2010 | 240 | #875 | 0.13 |
| 2009 | 276 | #808 | 0.14 |
| 2008 | 298 | #753 | 0.15 |
| 2007 | 296 | #752 | 0.14 |
| 2006 | 244 | #833 | 0.12 |
| 2005 | 254 | #776 | 0.13 |
| 2004 | 233 | #782 | 0.12 |
| 2003 | 248 | #735 | 0.13 |
| 2002 | 215 | #801 | 0.11 |
| 2001 | 188 | #856 | 0.10 |
| 2000 | 194 | #826 | 0.10 |
| 1999 | 191 | #802 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 164 | #890 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 164 | #861 | 0.09 |
| 1996 | 157 | #876 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 130 | #974 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 111 | #1,058 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 88 | #1,199 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 83 | #1,240 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 78 | #1,266 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 75 | #1,280 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 58 | #1,445 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 55 | #1,417 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 50 | #1,460 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 44 | #1,529 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 54 | #1,315 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 47 | #1,392 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 31 | #1,809 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 49 | #1,358 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 59 | #1,198 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 50 | #1,338 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 41 | #1,486 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 47 | #1,349 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 47 | #1,333 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 32 | #1,670 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 36 | #1,497 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 34 | #1,515 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 28 | #1,691 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 26 | #1,760 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 24 | #1,855 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 17 | #2,276 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 14 | #2,399 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 16 | #2,093 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 19 | #1,843 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 14 | #2,202 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 18 | #1,906 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 12 | #2,526 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 6 | #3,983 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 8 | #3,269 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 6 | #4,000 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 9 | #3,041 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,791 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,870 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,993 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Seamus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Seamus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 69 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Seamus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Seamus, and how old are they?
7,620 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 7,809 Americans ever recorded as Seamus. The median Seamus alive today is 19 years old; half are between 12 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 6,955 people named Seamus (22 women and girls, 6,933 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,835 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 50 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 414 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,120 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,660 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,370 |
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 Seamus born?
The states with the most babies named Seamus are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York, with 41% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Massachusetts is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 20 | #295 | 4.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 17 | #570 | 2.0× |
| New York | 11 | #1,107 | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 9 | #927 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 9 | #822 | 0.3× |
| Virginia | 7 | #951 | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 7 | #776 | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,255 | 1.1× |
| Colorado | 6 | #835 | 1.0× |
| Minnesota | 6 | #793 | 0.6× |
Where Seamus is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Seamus is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1957 it was given 4.7 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 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 Seamus 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 9,587 babies since 1880, Seamus is the most given (81% of them). In 2025 it was given to 154 of their 163 babies (94%), 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 Seamus
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 Seamus and names like it
- Compare Seamus and ShamusBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sSeamus peaked in 2008.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Seamus since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Seamus: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2008The year the most babies were named Seamus.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Seamus alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.