Lam
A word of Khmer origin meaning "son" or "child".
Name Census estimates that about 609 living Americans carry the first name Lam. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Lam today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lam births was 1984 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lam. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
609
~ 1 in 562,815 Americans
Peak year
1984
28 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,475
Tracked since 1977
Census
Lam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,541 people with the first name Lam, which placed it at #3,669 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,669
National first-name rank
People counted
5.5K
5,541 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lam is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Black (1.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lam described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.8% · 5,306
- White1.3% · 73
- Black or African American1.3% · 70
- Two or more races0.9% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Lam
Lam leans heavily male at 87.8% of total registrations, but 76 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lam as a male name
- Ranked #9,475 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (27 births)
Lam as a female name
- Ranked #16,609 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2013 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lam on both sides of the split. Of the 5,542 people counted with this name, 4,174 were male (75.3%) and 1,368 were female (24.7%).
Popularity
Lam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lam from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 180 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lam by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lams live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lam
The given name Lam has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East. Derived from the root word lmd, meaning "to study" or "to learn," the name Lam has been associated with knowledge, wisdom, and scholarship throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lam can be found in the biblical Book of Genesis, where Lam is mentioned as the son of Bethuel and the grandson of Nahor, Abraham's brother. This reference places the name's usage in the region of Mesopotamia during the second millennium BCE.
In ancient Sumerian texts, the name Lam-azida is recorded as a title for a high-ranking official or priest, further reinforcing the name's connection to learning and wisdom. The Sumerian civilization, which flourished in the region of modern-day Iraq, dates back to the 4th millennium BCE.
During the medieval period, the name Lam gained popularity among Arab scholars and intellectuals. One notable figure bearing this name was Lam ibn Yahya al-Qurashi, a renowned 9th-century philosopher and mathematician from Baghdad. His contributions to the fields of logic and metaphysics were influential during the Islamic Golden Age.
In the 12th century, Lam ibn al-Qadi al-Baghdadi was a prominent Islamic jurist and theologian from Baghdad. His extensive writings on Islamic jurisprudence and theology made him a respected authority in the region.
Crossing into the Asian continent, the name Lam has also been recorded in ancient Chinese texts. One notable figure was Lam Qua, a 19th-century Chinese painter and poet who gained recognition for his intricate and detailed artworks depicting scenes from Chinese culture and history.
Moving into the modern era, the name Lam has been borne by several notable individuals, such as Lam Qua, a 19th-century Chinese painter and poet renowned for his intricate artworks depicting scenes from Chinese culture and history. Another notable bearer of the name was Lam Qing-yu, a 20th-century Hong Kong film director and screenwriter who made significant contributions to the local cinema industry.
Lam has been a name carried by individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds, each leaving their mark on history through their achievements and contributions in various fields, from religion and philosophy to art and literature.
People
Lam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lam as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 609 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lam going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 562,815 US residents.
Is Lam a common name?
We classify Lam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lam most popular?
The single biggest year for Lam was 1984, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lam is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,541 people with the name Lam, or 1.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,669 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lam in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lam?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lam on both sides of the split. Of the 5,542 people counted with this name, 4,174 were male (75.3%) and 1,368 were female (24.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lam is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Black (1.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lam most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Lam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.8% (5,306 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lam a male name?
Yes, 87.8% of people registered as Lam in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lam in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lam can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Lam?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.