Find out how popular the last name Salam is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Salam.

Salam, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Salam surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Salam in America

Salam is the 20676th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Salam surname appeared 1,280 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Salam.

We can also compare 2010 data for Salam to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Salam

The surname Salam originates from the Middle East, with its roots dating back to the 7th century. It is an Arabic word derived from the phrase "as-salamu alaikum," which translates to "peace be upon you." This phrase is a common Islamic greeting, indicating that the name likely has ties to the Islamic faith and culture.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Salam can be found in the historical accounts of the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled over a vast territory spanning from the Iberian Peninsula to parts of Central Asia between the 7th and 8th centuries. During this period, the name was often associated with prominent scholars, poets, and religious figures who played significant roles in the dissemination of Islamic teachings and intellectual pursuits.

The name Salam gained further recognition in the 12th century when it appeared in the writings of the renowned Persian scholar and poet, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. Rumi's works, particularly his poetic masterpiece, the Masnavi, frequently referenced individuals bearing the surname Salam, indicating their importance within the literary and scholarly circles of the time.

Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the surname Salam. One of the earliest recorded examples is Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865-925 CE), a Persian polymath who made significant contributions to various fields, including medicine, philosophy, and alchemy. Another prominent figure was Ibn Salam al-Jumahi (c. 942-1005 CE), a renowned Arabic philologist and grammarian from Basra, Iraq.

In more recent times, the name Salam has been associated with individuals who have left their mark in various fields. Abdus Salam (1926-1996), a Pakistani theoretical physicist, was the first Muslim to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 for his contributions to the unification of the weak and electromagnetic interactions. Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), an Egyptian writer and Nobel laureate in literature, was another notable figure with the surname Salam.

The name Salam has also been linked to various place names throughout the Middle East and North Africa. For instance, the city of Salam in modern-day Morocco was named after a local tribe bearing the surname Salam. Similarly, there are villages and towns with variations of the name, such as Salmiya in Kuwait and Salam Bek in Egypt, further emphasizing the widespread presence of this surname across the region.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Salam

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Salam.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Salam was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Salam has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Salam was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Salam, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!