Samith
A masculine name of Sanskrit and Indian origin meaning "tranquil, calm".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Samith. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Samith today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samith births was 2012 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samith. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Samith. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2012
6 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2012 SSA rank
#12,011
Tracked since 2011
Census
Samith in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 110 people with the first name Samith, which placed it at #51,979 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
#51,979
National first-name rank
People counted
110
110 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Samith
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samith is Asian/Pacific Islander at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.1%) and White (5.5%). 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 Samith 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 Samith at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander81.8% · 90
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 10
- White5.5% · 6
- Black or African American2.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1
Popularity
Samith: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Samith 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 Samith during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Samith
The name Samith is believed to have its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, which was prevalent in the Indian subcontinent during the Vedic period, dating back to around 1500 BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit root word "samit," which means "complete" or "whole." It is often associated with concepts of wholeness, perfection, and completeness.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Samith can be found in the ancient Hindu scripture, the Mahabharata, which is an epic narrative that dates back to around the 8th or 9th century BCE. In this text, Samith is mentioned as the name of a sage or a wise person, suggesting its association with wisdom and knowledge.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Samith. One such person was Samith Mitra (1890-1967), a renowned Indian mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to the fields of relativity and cosmology. He was a professor at the University of Calcutta and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951.
Another notable individual with the name Samith was Samith Prabhu (1925-2009), an Indian journalist and writer who was known for his work in promoting Kannada literature. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Pampa Award and the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, for his contributions to the field of literature.
In the field of sports, Samith Bandaranaike (born 1983) is a Sri Lankan cricketer who played for the national team as a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He represented Sri Lanka in various international tournaments, including the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Another individual of historical significance with the name Samith was Samith Udayakumara (1911-1992), a Sri Lankan politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1970 to 1977. He was known for his efforts in promoting self-sufficiency and rural development programs during his tenure.
Lastly, Samith Dharmawardena (born 1966) is a Sri Lankan-born American entrepreneur and technology executive. He co-founded the software company SugarCRM and has been actively involved in the technology industry, working with various startups and venture capital firms.
People
Samith + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samith 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
Samith: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samith?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samith 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Samith a common name?
We classify Samith as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samith most popular?
The single biggest year for Samith was 2012, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samith 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 Samith in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 110 people with the name Samith, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,979 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 Samith 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 Samith?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Samith on both sides of the split. Of the 103 people counted with this name, 80 were male (77.7%) and 23 were female (22.3%). 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 Samith?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samith is Asian/Pacific Islander at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.1%) and White (5.5%). 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 Samith most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Samith in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (90 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 Samith in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Samith a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Samith 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 Samith still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Samith 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 Samith 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 have the name Samith?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.