Samer
A masculine Arabic name meaning "conversant" or "sociable companion".
Name Census estimates that about 1,404 living Americans carry the first name Samer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Samer today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samer births was 1993 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samer. 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 Samer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 244,127 Americans
Peak year
1993
55 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,182
Tracked since 1966
Census
Samer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,775 people with the first name Samer, which placed it at #4,790 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
#4,790
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,775 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Samer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samer is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%). 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 Samer 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 Samer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 3,316
- Two or more races3.6% · 137
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 127
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 122
- Black or African American1.8% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Samer
Out of the 1,448 babies given the name Samer since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Samer as a male name
- Ranked #8,182 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (53 births)
Samer as a female name
- Ranked #15,283 in 1993
- 5 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1993 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Samer leans strongly male. 3,671 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 102 female bearers (2.7%).
Popularity
Samer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samer from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 441 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samer 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 Samer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Samer, while Virginia, Texas, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Samer
The name Samer is of Arabic origin, derived from the Semitic root word "samara," which means "to converse at night" or "to hold night conversations." This name has its roots in the ancient Middle Eastern cultures and can be traced back to pre-Islamic times.
In the early days of Islam, the name Samer was often associated with scholars and intellectuals who would engage in late-night discussions and debates on various subjects. It was considered a name befitting those who valued knowledge and wisdom.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Samer can be found in the "Kitab al-Aghani" (Book of Songs), a monumental anthology of Arabic poetry and literary anecdotes compiled in the 9th century CE by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Samer. One such individual was Samer bin Habib (born around 720 CE), a renowned Arab poet and scholar from Kufa, Iraq, who was known for his mastery of the Arabic language and his contributions to literature.
Another famous bearer of the name was Samer bin Saeed (born around 885 CE), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. He made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and spherical geometry, and his works were widely studied and referenced by scholars throughout the Islamic world.
In the 11th century, Samer bin Ahmed al-Shahrazuri (born around 1035 CE) was a prominent Islamic philosopher and theologian from Shahrazur, modern-day Iraq. He was known for his writings on various philosophical and religious topics, and his works were widely read and discussed among scholars of his time.
During the 12th century, Samer bin Ali al-Dimashqi (born around 1150 CE) was a respected Arab historian and geographer from Damascus. He authored several books on the history and geography of the Middle East, which remain valuable sources of information for researchers and scholars today.
In more recent times, Samer Issawi (1923-2016) was a prominent Arab economist and academic from Lebanon. He made significant contributions to the study of economic development in the Middle East and was widely regarded as one of the leading experts in his field.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Samer throughout history, reflecting its rich cultural heritage and association with scholarship, wisdom, and intellectual pursuits.
People
Samer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samer 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
Samer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,404 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samer 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 244,127 US residents.
Is Samer a common name?
We classify Samer as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,448 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samer most popular?
The single biggest year for Samer was 1993, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samer is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Samer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,775 people with the name Samer, or 1.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,790 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 Samer 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 Samer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Samer leans strongly male. 3,671 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 102 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Samer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samer is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%). 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 Samer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Samer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (3,316 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 Samer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Samer a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Samer 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 Samer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Samer 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 Samer 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 Samer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.