Samir
A masculine name derived from Arabic meaning "companion" or "company keeper".
Name Census estimates that about 10,530 living Americans carry the first name Samir. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Samir today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samir births was 2023 (493 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samir. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Samir is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 69 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,550 Americans
Peak year
2023
493 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#590
Tracked since 1957
Gender
Gender distribution for Samir
Out of the 10,728 babies given the name Samir since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Samir as a male name
- Ranked #590 in 2024
- 484 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (488 births)
Samir as a female name
- Ranked #17,175 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2003 (12 births)
Popularity
Samir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samir from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,173 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Samir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samir 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 Samir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Samir, while Utah, Oklahoma, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 255 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Samir
The name Samir has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic root word 'samara', which means 'fruit' or 'to bear fruit'. The name is believed to have been in use since the 7th century AD, during the early Islamic era.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Samir can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, the name is mentioned in verse 24:35, which describes Allah's light as a "lamp in a niche".
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Samir. One of the earliest was Samir ibn Hatem al-Kilabi (c. 640-720 AD), a renowned Arab poet and warrior from the Umayyad era.
In the 9th century, there was Samir ibn Nuh al-Khwarizmi (c. 790-850 AD), a famous Persian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of algebra.
During the medieval period, Samir ibn Radwan (c. 1070-1153) was a renowned physician and philosopher from Spain. He is particularly known for his works on medicine and natural sciences.
In the 13th century, Samir al-Jurjani (c. 1239-1311) was a prominent Persian scholar and linguist, best known for his contributions to the study of Arabic grammar and lexicography.
More recently, Samir Amin (1931-2018) was an Egyptian-French economist and thinker, renowned for his work on dependency theory and his critique of capitalism and imperialism.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Samir, which has its roots in the rich cultural heritage of the Arab world and the Islamic tradition.
People
Samir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samir 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
Samir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,530 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samir 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 32,550 US residents.
Is Samir a common name?
We classify Samir as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,728 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samir most popular?
The single biggest year for Samir was 2023, when 493 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samir is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Samir a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Samir 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.
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.