Samayah
Feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "high place" or "heavens".
Name Census estimates that about 508 living Americans carry the first name Samayah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Samayah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samayah births was 2007 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samayah. 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.
People living today
508
~ 1 in 674,713 Americans
Peak year
2007
45 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,835
Tracked since 1998
Census
Samayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 343 people with the first name Samayah, which placed it at #26,904 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
#26,904
National first-name rank
People counted
343
343 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Samayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samayah is Black at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.4%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Samayah 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 Samayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American70.3% · 241
- Hispanic or Latino18.4% · 63
- Two or more races7.0% · 24
- White3.2% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 4
Popularity
Samayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samayah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 246 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Samayah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samayah 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 Samayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Samayah, while Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Samayah
The name Samayah is a Hebrew name with origins dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "shama'ya," which means "to hear" or "to listen." The name is believed to have been inspired by the biblical figure Shemaiah, a prophet mentioned in the books of 2 Chronicles and Nehemiah.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Samayah can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish texts discovered in the mid-20th century. The scrolls, which date back to the last centuries before the common era, contain references to individuals bearing this name.
In the Middle Ages, the name Samayah gained popularity among Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. It was often associated with scholars and religious leaders, as the name's meaning was seen as a reflection of wisdom and attentiveness to divine teachings.
Historically, there have been several notable individuals named Samayah. One of the most prominent was Samayah ben Joseph, a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and scholar from Provence, France. He was known for his contributions to the study of Jewish law and ethics.
Another notable figure was Samayah ben Eleazar, a Talmudic scholar who lived in the 3rd century CE. He is remembered for his expertise in Jewish law and his role in preserving and transmitting the oral traditions of Judaism.
In the 16th century, Samayah Aben Nahmias was a prominent Jewish scholar and kabbalist from Safed, in present-day Israel. He wrote extensively on Jewish mysticism and was highly regarded for his knowledge of the Kabbalah.
Moving forward in time, Samayah Lakhen was a 19th-century Jewish poet and scholar from Persia (modern-day Iran). He was known for his intricate Hebrew poetry and his contributions to the study of Jewish literature and culture.
Finally, Samayah Reichman was a 20th-century Israeli educator and author. She founded several educational institutions in Israel and wrote extensively on topics related to Jewish education and culture.
People
Samayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samayah 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
Samayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 508 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samayah 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 674,713 US residents.
Is Samayah a common name?
We classify Samayah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 513 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Samayah was 2007, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samayah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Samayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 343 people with the name Samayah, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,904 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 Samayah 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 Samayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Samayah appears almost entirely female. Of the 342 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Samayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samayah is Black at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.4%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Samayah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Samayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (241 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 Samayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Samayah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Samayah 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 Samayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Samayah 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 Samayah 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 called Samayah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.