Seumas
Scottish Gaelic form of James, meaning "he supplants".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Seumas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Seumas today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Seumas births was 1981 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Seumas. 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 Seumas with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Seumas. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1981
5 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1981 SSA rank
#7,100
Tracked since 1981
Popularity
Seumas: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Seumas 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 Seumas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Seumas
The name Seumas is the Gaelic form of the name James, derived from the Late Latin name Iacomus which originated as the Hebrew name Ya'aqov. The name Ya'aqov means "supplanter" or "one who follows". It stems from the biblical patriarch Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebecca.
The name James first appeared in the New Testament of the Bible, referring to two of Jesus's disciples known as James the Greater and James the Less. St. James the Greater was one of the first apostles and a son of Zebedee. His feast day is celebrated on July 25th.
Seumas has been a popular name in Scotland for centuries, particularly in the Highlands and Islands regions. It was borne by several Scottish kings, including Seumas IV (1473-1513) who ruled from 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden Field. Seumas V (1512-1542) reigned from 1513 to 1542.
Another notable bearer was Seumas Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612-1650), a Scottish nobleman and poet who initially supported the Covenanters but later became a royalist and fought for King Charles I in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was executed in 1650 after being captured by the Covenanters.
Seumas Macpherson (1736-1796) was a Scottish writer and poet, best known for his controversial work "The Poems of Ossian" which he claimed to have translated from ancient Gaelic sources, though their authenticity was later disputed.
In the 20th century, Seumas O'Sullivan (1879-1958) was an Irish writer and editor who co-founded the Dublin literary renaissance journal "The Irish Review". He was a close friend of James Joyce and W.B. Yeats.
People
Seumas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Seumas 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
Seumas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Seumas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Seumas 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Seumas a common name?
We classify Seumas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Seumas most popular?
The single biggest year for Seumas was 1981, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Seumas is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Seumas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Seumas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Seumas 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 Seumas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Seumas 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 Seumas 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Seumas?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.