Semir
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "companion" or "friend".
Name Census estimates that about 268 living Americans carry the first name Semir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Semir today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Semir births was 2001 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Semir. 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 Semir with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
268
~ 1 in 1,278,934 Americans
Peak year
2001
19 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,634
Tracked since 1996
Census
Semir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 618 people with the first name Semir, which placed it at #17,693 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
#17,693
National first-name rank
People counted
618
618 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Semir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Semir is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (20.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Semir 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 Semir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.9% · 457
- Black or African American20.4% · 126
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 8
- Two or more races1.0% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Semir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Semir 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 106 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Semir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Semir 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 Semir 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 Semir
The name Semir is derived from the Arabic word "samir," which means "conversant" or "companion." Its origins can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when the Arabic language and culture were flourishing across the Middle East and North Africa.
This name gained prominence during the rise of Islam, as it was often associated with the concept of companionship and camaraderie, which were highly valued in the early Islamic community. The name appears in some historical texts and records from that era, reflecting its widespread use among Arab populations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Semir can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab scholar and historian, Al-Tabari, who lived from 838 to 923 CE. He documented several individuals bearing this name in his chronicles of early Islamic history.
Throughout the centuries, the name Semir has been carried by notable figures across various fields. Among them is Semir Zeki, a renowned British-Lebanese neuroscientist born in 1946, known for his groundbreaking research on the neural correlates of consciousness and visual perception.
Another prominent bearer of this name is Semir Osmanagić, a Bosnian author and entrepreneur born in 1960, best known for his controversial claims regarding the existence of ancient pyramids in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the realm of sports, Semir Demirović, a Bosnian football player born in 1988, has represented his national team and played for various clubs in Europe.
Semir Terzić, born in 1970, is a Bosnian-American writer and journalist who has published several critically acclaimed works exploring themes of identity, displacement, and the immigrant experience.
Lastly, Semir Krivić, a Bosnian actor born in 1969, has gained recognition for his roles in numerous films and television series, both in his home country and internationally.
While the name Semir has maintained its presence throughout history, it has also evolved and taken on various cultural and linguistic influences, reflecting the diversity of the communities that have embraced it over time.
People
Semir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Semir 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
Semir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Semir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 268 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Semir 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 1,278,934 US residents.
Is Semir a common name?
We classify Semir as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 271 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Semir most popular?
The single biggest year for Semir was 2001, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Semir is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Semir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 618 people with the name Semir, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,693 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 Semir 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 Semir?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Semir leans strongly male. 607 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 9 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Semir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Semir is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (20.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Semir most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Semir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.9% (457 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 Semir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Semir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Semir 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 Semir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Semir 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 Semir 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 named Semir?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.