Shammah
Of Hebrew origin, meaning "desolation", "desert", or "astonishment".
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Shammah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Shammah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shammah births was 2017 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shammah. 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 Shammah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
2017
15 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,672
Tracked since 1978
Census
Shammah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 223 people with the first name Shammah, which placed it at #35,856 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
#35,856
National first-name rank
People counted
223
223 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shammah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shammah is Black at 74.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.6%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Shammah 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 Shammah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.9% · 167
- White12.6% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 9
- Two or more races2.7% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Shammah
Shammah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 105 total registrations, 66 (62.9%) were male and 39 (37.1%) were female.
Shammah as a male name
- Ranked #10,672 in 2022
- 7 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1978 (7 births)
Shammah as a female name
- Ranked #11,955 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shammah on both sides of the split. Of the 222 people counted with this name, 134 were male (60.4%) and 88 were female (39.6%).
Popularity
Shammah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shammah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 44 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shammah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shammah 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 Shammah 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 Shammah
The name Shammah has its roots in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew word "shammah," which means "desolate" or "wasteland." The name dates back to ancient times and can be found in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shammah appears in the Book of Samuel, where it is mentioned as the name of one of King David's mighty warriors. Shammah the Hararite is described as a valiant soldier who stood his ground against the Philistines and defended a field of lentils, slaying the enemy single-handedly.
In addition to the biblical reference, the name Shammah has been carried by several other notable individuals throughout history. One such individual was Shammah, son of Anath, a Jew who lived in the 2nd century CE. He was a renowned scholar and is mentioned in the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
Another Shammah of historical significance was Shammah ben David, a medieval Jewish scholar who lived in the 12th century CE. He was a prominent Talmudist and is known for his contributions to the study of Jewish law and tradition.
Moving forward in time, Shammah Bunford was an American Revolutionary War soldier who fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War in the late 18th century. He was born in 1757 and is remembered for his bravery and service to the cause of American independence.
In more recent history, Shammah Hirschfeld was a Jewish artist and sculptor who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1853 in Galicia, he is known for his sculptures and works of art inspired by Jewish themes and traditions.
While the name Shammah may not be as common today, its historical significance and connections to Hebrew culture and biblical figures have given it a lasting legacy. The name has been carried by warriors, scholars, and artists throughout the centuries, each leaving their mark on the world in their own way.
People
Shammah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shammah 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
Shammah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shammah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shammah 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Shammah a common name?
We classify Shammah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 105 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shammah most popular?
The single biggest year for Shammah was 2017, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shammah 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 Shammah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 223 people with the name Shammah, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,856 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 Shammah 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 Shammah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shammah on both sides of the split. Of the 222 people counted with this name, 134 were male (60.4%) and 88 were female (39.6%). 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 Shammah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shammah is Black at 74.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.6%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Shammah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shammah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (167 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 Shammah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shammah a male name?
Yes, 62.9% of people registered as Shammah 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 Shammah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shammah 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 Shammah 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 Shammah?
Find out how many people share the name Shammah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.