Semaja
A feminine name thought to mean "listen" or refer to peaceful listening.
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Semaja. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Semaja today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Semaja births was 2006 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Semaja. 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
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
2006
20 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2015 SSA rank
#13,711
Tracked since 1996
Gender
Gender distribution for Semaja
Semaja leans heavily female at 88.1% of total registrations, but 22 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Semaja as a male name
- Ranked #13,711 in 2015
- 5 male births in 2015
- Peak: 2005 (6 births)
Semaja as a female name
- Ranked #14,970 in 2021
- 6 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2004 (15 births)
Popularity
Semaja: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Semaja from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 122 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
Semaja 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 Semaja 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 Semaja
The name Semaja is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language. It is a variation of the Hebrew name Shemaiah, which means "the Lord has heard". The name can be traced back to ancient times, with its earliest known mention found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
In the Book of Ezra, one of the priests who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity was named Shemaiah. This biblical figure lived around the 5th century BC. The name Shemaiah was also borne by several other individuals mentioned in the Old Testament, including a prophet during the reign of King Rehoboam.
As the name spread across different cultures and regions, it underwent various spelling variations, leading to the form Semaja. While the name's Hebrew roots are evident, it is possible that the spelling Semaja was influenced by other languages or cultural adaptations over time.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Semaja can be found in the historical records of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 14th century, a nobleman named Semaja of Kanizsa was a prominent figure in the court of King Louis I of Hungary, who ruled from 1342 to 1382.
Another notable individual with the name Semaja was a 16th-century Ottoman scholar and writer from the city of Skopje, now located in North Macedonia. Semaja of Skopje was renowned for his works on Islamic jurisprudence and theology.
In the 17th century, Semaja Hasson was a prominent Jewish merchant and community leader in the city of Livorno, Italy. He played a significant role in the economic and cultural life of the Jewish community during that time.
During the 18th century, Semaja Dubno was a renowned Talmudic scholar and author from the Russian Empire. He wrote several influential works on Jewish law and philosophy, and his teachings had a lasting impact on the Jewish intellectual tradition.
In more recent history, Semaja Ferrell was an American basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 1990s and early 2000s. Born in 1976, he played for several teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers and the Detroit Pistons.
People
Semaja + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Semaja 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
Semaja: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Semaja?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Semaja 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Semaja a common name?
We classify Semaja as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 185 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Semaja most popular?
The single biggest year for Semaja was 2006, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Semaja is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Semaja a female name?
Yes, 88.1% of people registered as Semaja 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.
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.