How rare is the name Shmuel?

4,228 people in the United States have the first name Shmuel, about 1 in 71,436. It ranks #4,430 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

SHMUEL

#4,430

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
4,228
About
1 in 71,436
This common or more
84%
Who bears it

Of the 4,228 people named Shmuel, 97.6% reported their origin as White and 1% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Shmuel peaked in 2025, when 256 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19532025
Peak year
2025
Births that year
256
In 2025*
256
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 5,972 babies have been given the name since 1953. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Shmuel by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #2,022. The largest share of babies named Shmuel, 46.4%, were born in 2013 or later.

1950s#10,39823
1960s#6,70994
1970s#4,695244
1980s#3,338519
1990s#3,318723
2000s#3,0611,125
2010s#2,3241,850
2020s#2,0221,394
Baby boom 1946–641.1%
Generation X 1965–805.5%
Millennials 1981–9616%
Generation Z 1997–1230.9%
2013 and later46.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Shmuel is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Shmuel has been most common in New Jersey (12×), New York (7.6×), and Maryland (1.1×), and least common in Illinois (0.16×).

5,114 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Shmuel

#4,428 Candis · 4,229#4,428 Yaakov · 4,229#4,431 Immanuel · 4,225#4,431 Sheyla · 4,225

Spelled almost the same

One first name in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Shmuel, most common first.

#19,234 Shmiel · 553

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