Meaning not yet researched.
Salem: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 711 in 2025. Its best rank was #417 in 2023.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #417 in 2023; #436 in 2025. About 64% of babies named Salem in 2025 were girls.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#436 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 2023, at #417.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Salem: US girls and boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 711 girls in 2025. Peak: #417 in 2023 · most girls in one year: 734 (2023).
In 2025, 711 US girls were named Salem, making it the 436th most common girls’ name of the year, down 4 places from #432 in 2024. That is 7 fewer than the 718 girls named Salem in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #417, reached in 2023. That year also had the most girls given the name: 734. For comparison, it was #1,433 in 2015 and unranked in 1950.
In 2025, 400 US boys were named Salem, making it the 679th most common boys’ name of the year, down 45 places from #634 in 2024. That is 42 fewer than the 442 boys named Salem in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #631, reached in 2023. The most boys given the name in a single year was 442, in 2024. For comparison, it was #1,286 in 2015 and #3,626 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Salem in 75 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1912 with 5 babies. In all, 11,178 US babies have been given the name, 58% of them girls and 42% boys. Its busiest decade was the 2020s, with 6,291 babies named Salem.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 4,984 US girls were named Salem; the busiest of those years was 2023, with 734. In 2025 that was about 1 in 2,261 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Salem ranked highest in West Virginia in 2025, at #136 for girls there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Salome (5,624 babies since 1880), Salim (2,005 babies since 1880) and Saleem (1,945 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Salam, Saylem and Salaam are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Rare spellings summarised here: Salam (395), Saylem (144), Salaam (70), Saalim (27), Saliym (5), Salym (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Salem in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US girls. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five girls got the name, so 15 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 12 | #136 | — |
| Kentucky | 27 | #170 | — |
| North Carolina | 60 | #176 | #561 |
| Kansas | 17 | #200 | — |
| Nevada | 13 | #212 | — |
| Arkansas | 13 | #246 | — |
| Missouri | 26 | #249 | — |
| Indiana | 27 | #266 | #1,236 |
| Mississippi | 11 | #266 | — |
| Georgia | 37 | #278 | #1,722 |
| Alabama | 17 | #294 | #678 |
| Oklahoma | 14 | #311 | #563 |
| Tennessee | 24 | #346 | #1,048 |
| Colorado | 18 | #352 | #756 |
| Ohio | 32 | #357 | #1,259 |
| Nebraska | 6 | #389 | — |
| Iowa | 8 | #431 | — |
| South Carolina | 12 | #438 | — |
| Washington | 16 | #446 | — |
| Idaho | 5 | #469 | — |
| Arizona | 14 | #511 | — |
| Wisconsin | 10 | #512 | — |
| Virginia | 16 | #513 | — |
| Louisiana | 9 | #528 | — |
| Illinois | 19 | #539 | #1,419 |
| Maryland | 10 | #543 | — |
| Texas | 59 | #544 | #1,791 |
| Michigan | 15 | #544 | — |
| Florida | 33 | #553 | #1,613 |
| Pennsylvania | 19 | #575 | #1,377 |
| Oregon | 6 | #613 | — |
| California | 47 | #671 | #1,649 |
| Utah | 6 | #691 | — |
| Minnesota | 7 | #719 | — |
| Massachusetts | 7 | #749 | — |
| New York | 10 | #1,401 | — |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 711 | #436 | 400 | #679 |
| 2024 | 718 | #432 | 442 | #634 |
| 2023 | 734 | #417 | 440 | #631 |
| 2022 | 700 | #448 | 400 | #680 |
| 2021 | 614 | #506 | 364 | #715 |
| 2020 | 480 | #608 | 288 | #808 |
| 2019 | 377 | #749 | 236 | #926 |
| 2018 | 257 | #1,013 | 155 | #1,215 |
| 2017 | 205 | #1,196 | 165 | #1,152 |
| 2016 | 188 | #1,285 | 149 | #1,247 |
| 2015 | 162 | #1,433 | 139 | #1,286 |
| 2014 | 144 | #1,524 | 109 | #1,491 |
| 2013 | 91 | #2,103 | 94 | #1,632 |
| 2012 | 85 | #2,229 | 69 | #2,029 |
| 2011 | 65 | #2,721 | 57 | #2,281 |
| 2010 | 67 | #2,688 | 67 | #2,051 |
| 2009 | 82 | #2,373 | 84 | #1,796 |
| 2008 | 65 | #2,797 | 51 | #2,501 |
| 2007 | 56 | #3,121 | 41 | #2,912 |
| 2006 | 54 | #3,129 | 48 | #2,533 |
| 2005 | 57 | #2,901 | 40 | #2,746 |
| 2004 | 51 | #3,062 | 59 | #2,048 |
| 2003 | 44 | #3,340 | 41 | #2,542 |
| 2002 | 56 | #2,740 | 37 | #2,628 |
| 2001 | 52 | #2,842 | 38 | #2,558 |
| 2000 | 38 | #3,507 | 32 | #2,853 |
| 1999 | 41 | #3,180 | 35 | #2,548 |
| 1998 | 39 | #3,213 | 28 | #2,915 |
| 1997 | 33 | #3,525 | 34 | #2,436 |
| 1996 | 21 | #4,850 | 31 | #2,526 |
| 1995 | 20 | #4,983 | 29 | #2,612 |
| 1994 | 17 | #5,652 | 28 | #2,672 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,560 | 18 | #3,627 |
| 1992 | 15 | #6,238 | 15 | #4,066 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,465 | 15 | #3,975 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,373 | 22 | #2,944 |
| 1989 | 10 | #7,906 | 19 | #3,185 |
| 1988 | 11 | #7,022 | 28 | #2,240 |
| 1987 | 11 | #6,682 | 16 | #3,172 |
| 1986 | 10 | #7,012 | 14 | #3,409 |
| 1985 | 8 | #8,144 | 8 | #5,064 |
| 1984 | 12 | #5,810 | 17 | #2,797 |
| 1983 | 10 | #6,602 | 15 | #3,048 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,985 | 9 | #4,519 |
| 1981 | — | — | 15 | #3,003 |
| 1980 | 9 | #7,261 | 18 | #2,705 |
| 1979 | 8 | #7,872 | 19 | #2,543 |
| 1978 | 8 | #7,483 | 16 | #2,773 |
| 1977 | 9 | #6,750 | 11 | #3,568 |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,472 | 10 | #3,672 |
| 1975 | — | — | 5 | #6,173 |
| 1974 | — | — | 11 | #3,284 |
| 1973 | — | — | 8 | #3,992 |
| 1972 | — | — | 8 | #3,904 |
| 1971 | — | — | 9 | #3,605 |
| 1969 | — | — | 7 | #3,874 |
| 1966 | — | — | 6 | #3,878 |
| 1963 | — | — | 5 | #4,527 |
| 1962 | — | — | 5 | #4,530 |
| 1951 | — | — | 5 | #4,166 |
| 1950 | — | — | 6 | #3,626 |
| 1942 | — | — | 7 | #3,172 |
| 1940 | — | — | 7 | #3,091 |
| 1931 | — | — | 8 | #3,056 |
| 1926 | — | — | 8 | #3,338 |
| 1924 | — | — | 8 | #3,458 |
| 1923 | — | — | 5 | #4,785 |
| 1922 | — | — | 6 | #4,238 |
| 1921 | — | — | 7 | #3,813 |
| 1920 | — | — | 5 | #4,860 |
| 1919 | — | — | 8 | #3,339 |
| 1918 | — | — | 12 | #2,516 |
| 1916 | — | — | 5 | #4,416 |
| 1915 | — | — | 6 | #3,762 |
| 1912 | — | — | 5 | #2,848 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).