Seham
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "arrow" or "spear".
Name Census estimates that about 145 living Americans carry the first name Seham. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Seham today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Seham births was 2011 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Seham. 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 Seham with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
145
~ 1 in 2,363,823 Americans
Peak year
2011
9 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,233
Tracked since 1983
Census
Seham in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 760 people with the first name Seham, which placed it at #15,210 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
#15,210
National first-name rank
People counted
760
760 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Seham
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Seham is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Seham 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 Seham at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.6% · 620
- Black or African American7.4% · 56
- Two or more races6.3% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Seham: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Seham from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 63 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Seham 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 Seham 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 Seham
The name Seham is of Arabic origin and is derived from the Arabic word "sham" which means "air" or "breeze." It is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the medieval period, around the 7th to 13th centuries.
The name was popularized in the region due to its association with the beautiful and poetic imagery of a gentle breeze. It was often used to describe someone with a calm and serene demeanor, or someone who brought a sense of peace and tranquility to their surroundings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Seham can be found in the historical records of the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled over a vast empire spanning from North Africa to Central Asia between the 8th and 13th centuries. Seham was mentioned as the name of a prominent female scholar and poet who lived during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mu'tasim in the 9th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Seham. One of the most famous was Seham Al-Kurdi, a renowned Arab poet and writer who lived in the 10th century. She was renowned for her eloquent and evocative poetry, which often explored themes of love, nature, and the human experience.
Another notable figure was Seham Al-Samawi, a celebrated Islamic scholar and jurist from the 12th century. She was highly respected for her extensive knowledge of Islamic law and her contributions to the field of jurisprudence.
In the 13th century, Seham Al-Andalusi was a prominent mathematician and astronomer from the Andalusian region of Spain. She made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry and was highly regarded for her scientific achievements.
During the 14th century, Seham Al-Baghdadi was a renowned calligrapher and artist from Baghdad. Her intricate and beautiful calligraphic works were highly sought after and are still admired today for their artistic excellence.
Finally, in the 16th century, Seham Al-Dimashqi was a celebrated poet and playwright from Damascus. Her works were widely acclaimed for their emotional depth and poetic mastery, and she is considered one of the greatest literary figures of her time.
People
Seham + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Seham 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
Seham: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Seham?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 145 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Seham 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 2,363,823 US residents.
Is Seham a common name?
We classify Seham as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 148 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Seham most popular?
The single biggest year for Seham was 2011, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Seham is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Seham in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 760 people with the name Seham, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,210 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 Seham 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 Seham?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Seham appears almost entirely female. Of the 760 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Seham?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Seham is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Seham most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Seham in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.6% (620 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 Seham in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Seham a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Seham 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 Seham still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Seham 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 Seham 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 Seham?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.