Sama
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "sublime" or "exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 1,611 living Americans carry the first name Sama. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sama today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sama births was 2024 (163 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sama. 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 Sama with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sama is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 212,759 Americans
Peak year
2024
163 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,384
Tracked since 1983
Census
Sama in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,835 people with the first name Sama, which placed it at #8,022 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
#8,022
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,835 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sama
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sama is White at 65.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.7%) and Black (9.0%). 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 Sama 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 Sama at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.0% · 1,193
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.7% · 324
- Black or African American9.0% · 165
- Two or more races5.9% · 109
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 44
Popularity
Sama: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sama from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 722 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
Sama 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 Sama during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sama, while Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sama
The given name Sama has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India. It emerged during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. The word "sama" in Sanskrit means "equal" or "even," referring to a state of balance or equilibrium.
One of the earliest references to the name can be found in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures. The concept of "sama" is mentioned in the Upanishads, which are philosophical texts that form part of the Vedas. It is associated with the idea of achieving inner peace and harmony through the pursuit of knowledge and spiritual enlightenment.
In the epic Hindu poem Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE, there is a character named Sama, who was a king of the Kuru dynasty. This suggests that the name was in use as a personal name during that period in ancient India.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Sama was a Buddhist monk who lived in the 5th century CE. He was a prominent scholar and is credited with translating several Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese during the Northern Wei dynasty in China.
In the 12th century, there was a renowned Muslim poet and philosopher named Sama al-Din Mahmud Shabistari, who was born in Tabriz, Persia (present-day Iran). He is best known for his masterpiece, "The Secret Garden," which explores the concept of divine unity and the mystical path to enlightenment.
During the Mughal era in India, which spanned from the 16th to the 19th century, there was a notable Islamic scholar and jurist named Sama Ullah Khan. He was born in Delhi in 1554 and served as the Chief Justice of the Mughal Empire under the reign of Emperor Akbar.
In more recent history, there was a renowned Indian classical singer named Sama Ghazal, who was born in Hyderabad in 1923. She was a distinguished exponent of the Khayal style of Indian classical music and received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to the art form.
Another notable figure with the name Sama was Sama Moussa, an Ivorian politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Ivory Coast from 1990 to 1993. He was born in Bouaké, Ivory Coast, in 1952 and played a significant role in the country's transition to democracy.
People
Sama + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sama 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
Sama: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sama?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,611 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sama 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 212,759 US residents.
Is Sama a common name?
We classify Sama as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sama most popular?
The single biggest year for Sama was 2024, when 163 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sama is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sama in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,835 people with the name Sama, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,022 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 Sama 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 Sama?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sama leans strongly female. 1,729 people counted with this name were female (94.1%), compared with 108 male bearers (5.9%). 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 Sama?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sama is White at 65.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.7%) and Black (9.0%). 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 Sama most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sama in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.0% (1,193 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 Sama in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sama a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sama 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 Sama still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sama 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 Sama 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 share the name Sama?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.