Salome
A feminine name of Aramaic origin meaning "peace" or "calm".
Name Census estimates that about 3,954 living Americans carry the first name Salome. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Salome today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Salome births was 2024 (273 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Salome. 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 Salome with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 86,685 Americans
Peak year
2024
273 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2021 SSA rank
#952
Tracked since 1880
Census
Salome in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,916 people with the first name Salome, which placed it at #3,500 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
#3,500
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,916 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
53.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Salome
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Salome is Hispanic at 53.2%. The next largest groups are White (17.1%) and Black (16.5%). 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 Salome 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 Salome at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino53.2% · 3,146
- White17.1% · 1,011
- Black or African American16.5% · 976
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.2% · 664
- Two or more races1.8% · 105
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Salome
Salome leans heavily female at 87.3% of total registrations, but 682 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Salome as a male name
- Ranked #8,711 in 2021
- 9 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1924 (16 births)
Salome as a female name
- Ranked #952 in 2024
- 273 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (273 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Salome leans strongly female. 4,872 people counted with this name were female (82.3%), compared with 1,046 male bearers (17.7%).
Popularity
Salome: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Salome from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,058 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Salome 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 Salome during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Salomes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Salome, while Virginia, Ohio, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 99 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Salome
The name Salome has its origins in the Aramaic language, an ancient Semitic language that was widely spoken in the Middle East during the first millennium BC. The name is derived from the Aramaic word "shaloma" or "shlama," which means "peace" or "well-being."
In the New Testament of the Bible, Salome is mentioned as one of the women who accompanied Jesus and witnessed his crucifixion and resurrection. According to the Gospel of Mark, Salome was the daughter of Herodias and the wife of Herod's steward, Phillip.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Salome is found in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus, who lived in the first century AD. He mentions a woman named Salome who was the sister of Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed king of Judea.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Salome. One of the most famous is Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who is depicted in the Bible as dancing before Herod Antipas and demanding the head of John the Baptist as a reward.
Another famous Salome was Salome Alexandra (141-67 BC), a Hasmonean Jewish queen who ruled over Judea from 76 to 67 BC. She was known for her political acumen and for maintaining peace and stability in her kingdom.
In the 16th century, there was a Spanish noblewoman named Salome de Vílchez y Vivero (c. 1520-1585), who was a renowned poet and writer during the Spanish Renaissance.
In the 19th century, the French writer Oscar Wilde immortalized the name Salome in his play "Salome" (1891), which was based on the biblical story of Salome and the beheading of John the Baptist.
Another notable Salome was Salome Cruz (1892-1969), a Mexican painter and printmaker who was part of the Mexican Muralist movement and known for her depictions of indigenous Mexican life and culture.
People
Salome + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Salome as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Salome: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Salome?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,954 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Salome 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 86,685 US residents.
Is Salome a common name?
We classify Salome as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,382 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Salome most popular?
The single biggest year for Salome was 2024, when 273 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Salome is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Salome in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,916 people with the name Salome, or 1.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,500 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 Salome 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 Salome?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Salome leans strongly female. 4,872 people counted with this name were female (82.3%), compared with 1,046 male bearers (17.7%). 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 Salome?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Salome is Hispanic at 53.2%. The next largest groups are White (17.1%) and Black (16.5%). 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 Salome most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Salome in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.2% (3,146 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 Salome in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Salome a female name?
Yes, 87.3% of people registered as Salome in the SSA data are female. 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 Salome still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Salome 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 Salome 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 Salome?
Find out how many Americans are named Salome on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.