Shloma
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "peaceful" or "secure".
Name Census estimates that about 491 living Americans carry the first name Shloma. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shloma today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shloma births was 2018 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shloma. 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
491
~ 1 in 698,074 Americans
Peak year
2018
30 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,157
Tracked since 1974
Census
Shloma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 366 people with the first name Shloma, which placed it at #25,756 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
#25,756
National first-name rank
People counted
366
366 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
98.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shloma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shloma is White at 98.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%). 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 Shloma 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 Shloma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.4% · 360
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Shloma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shloma from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 177 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shloma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shloma 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 Shloma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shlomas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shloma
The given name Shloma is a Hebrew name derived from the Hebrew word "shalom," which means peace. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Semitic languages spoken in the Middle East, particularly in the region of modern-day Israel and Palestine.
The name Shloma is believed to have been in use since biblical times, and it is found in various Jewish religious texts and historical records. One of the earliest references to this name can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where it appears as the name of a minor character.
In the medieval period, the name Shloma was relatively common among Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East. Some notable historical figures who bore this name include Shloma ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, a renowned 11th-century Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet, and Shloma Molcho, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and messianic claimant.
During the Renaissance and early modern period, the name Shloma continued to be used by Jews in various parts of the world. One notable example is Shloma Shachnah, a 17th-century Italian rabbi and scholar who authored several works on Jewish law and philosophy.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Shloma gained popularity among Hasidic Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. One famous bearer of this name was Shloma Rokeach, a prominent 19th-century Hasidic rabbi and leader of the Belzer Hasidic dynasty.
Another notable figure with the name Shloma was Shloma Carlebach, a 20th-century American Orthodox rabbi and composer who played a significant role in the Jewish renewal movement. He was born in 1925 and passed away in 1994.
Other historical figures who bore the name Shloma include Shloma Zalman Auerbach (1910-1995), a renowned Israeli Orthodox rabbi and posek (authority on Jewish law), and Shloma Twerski (1917-1996), a prominent American-born Hasidic rabbi and author.
While the name Shloma has primarily been associated with the Jewish community throughout history, it has also been adopted by individuals of other faiths and cultures who have been influenced by Hebrew names and their meanings.
People
Shloma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shloma 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
Shloma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shloma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 491 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shloma 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 698,074 US residents.
Is Shloma a common name?
We classify Shloma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 497 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shloma most popular?
The single biggest year for Shloma was 2018, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shloma 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 Shloma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 366 people with the name Shloma, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,756 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 Shloma 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 Shloma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shloma leans strongly male. 359 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Shloma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shloma is White at 98.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%). 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 Shloma most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shloma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.4% (360 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 Shloma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shloma a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shloma 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 Shloma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shloma 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 Shloma 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 share the name Shloma?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.