Samil
An uncommon name of uncertain origin and meaning, possibly Arabic.
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the first name Samil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Samil today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samil births was 2012 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samil. 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
134
~ 1 in 2,557,868 Americans
Peak year
2012
13 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,183
Tracked since 1999
Census
Samil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 298 people with the first name Samil, which placed it at #29,601 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
#29,601
National first-name rank
People counted
298
298 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
54.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Samil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samil is Hispanic at 54.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.4%) and White (15.8%). 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 Samil 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 Samil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino54.4% · 162
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.4% · 52
- White15.8% · 47
- Black or African American11.1% · 33
- Two or more races1.3% · 4
Popularity
Samil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samil 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 77 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Samil remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samil 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 Samil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Samil
The name Samil is believed to have originated in the Middle East, specifically in the Arabic-speaking regions. It is derived from the Arabic word "samil," which means "complete" or "perfect." The name has been in use for centuries, dating back to the pre-Islamic era.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Samil can be found in ancient Arabic poetry and literature. It was often used as a descriptor for individuals who were considered virtuous or of high moral character. In some instances, the name was also associated with beauty and grace.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Samil. One of the earliest known figures was Samil ibn Habib al-Baghdadi (753-827 CE), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. He made significant contributions to the fields of algebra and trigonometry.
Another prominent figure was Samil al-Kindi (801-873 CE), an Arab philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who is considered one of the first great philosophers of the Islamic world. He wrote extensively on a wide range of subjects, including metaphysics, logic, and ethics.
In the 12th century, Samil al-Dīn al-Itlīdī (1144-1238 CE) was a notable Muslim scholar and theologian from Spain. He was known for his expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and his contributions to the field of Maliki fiqh (Islamic law).
During the Ottoman Empire, Samil Pasha (1838-1892) was a prominent military commander and statesman. He played a crucial role in the defense of the empire during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and later served as the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of the Ottoman Empire.
In more recent times, Samil Basri (1924-2000) was an Indonesian actor and film director who was widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the Indonesian film industry. He directed numerous critically acclaimed films and received numerous accolades for his contributions to the art form.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Samil. While the name has its roots in the Arabic language and culture, it has been adopted and used by people of various ethnicities and backgrounds over the centuries.
People
Samil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samil 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
Samil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 134 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samil 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 2,557,868 US residents.
Is Samil a common name?
We classify Samil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samil most popular?
The single biggest year for Samil was 2012, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samil is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Samil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 298 people with the name Samil, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,601 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 Samil 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 Samil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Samil leans strongly male. 283 people counted with this name were male (93.1%), compared with 21 female bearers (6.9%). 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 Samil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samil is Hispanic at 54.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.4%) and White (15.8%). 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 Samil most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Samil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.4% (162 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 Samil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Samil a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Samil 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 Samil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Samil 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 Samil 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 Samil?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.