Sam

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Sam is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name127K records spelled Sam19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Türkiye, Mexico, Syria

  Languages: Spanish, Turkish, Arabic

  Also written Şam, Säm, Sâm, Sám, Sãm

• French given name120K records spelled Sam41 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, United Kingdom

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Şam, Sam', Sâm, Sàm, Sãm

• German given name100K records spelled Sam77 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Netherlands, United States, Germany, Belgium

  Languages: German, Dutch, Western Frisian

  Also written Saem, Şam, Säm, Sâm, Sằm

• Khmer given name81K records spelled Sam12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Hong Kong, United Kingdom

  Also written Säm, Šãm, Šấm, Sàm, Šam

• a separate given name60K records spelled Sam9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Şam, Sâm, Säm, Sẩm, Sām

101 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Sam is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Sam är en engelsk smekform till → Samuel. Det har varit ett populärt namn de senaste årtiondena. En fiktiv namnbärare som kan ha bidragit till namnets spridning är Sam i J.R.R. Tolkiens trilogi Härskarringen (1954–55), filmatiserad 2001–2003. Som kvinnonamn kan det vara en smekform till → Samantha. I den rikssvenska alma nackan 1 september och i den finlandssvenska 20 augusti.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, Samanala [Adam's Peak]

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, sacred mtn., Sri Lanka

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, surface-to-air missile

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, city, Afghanistan

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Sam Houstonb. 1793USAmerican statesman, politician, and soldier (1793-1863)
• Sam Wanamakerb. 1919USAmerican actor (1919–1993)
• Sam Shepardb. 1943USAmerican playwright and actor (1943–2017)
• Sam Hindsb. 1943GY5th Prime Minister of Guyana
• Sam Elliottb. 1944USAmerican actor (born 1944)
• Sam Taylor-Johnsonb. 1967GBBritish film director (born 1967)
• Sam Rockwellb. 1968USAmerican actor
• Sam Rileyb. 1980GBEnglish actor
• Sam Altmanb. 1985USAmerican venture capitalist
• Sam Ryderb. 1989GBEnglish singer, songwriter and social media personality (born 1989)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,529 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Sam?

We estimate roughly 140 thousand people bear Sam (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Sam have the most bearers?

Sam is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled sam.

How common is Sam compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Sam is the 178th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Sam a male or female name?

Sam is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Sam mean?

Recorded meaning: ,2 Short form of Samuel (or less frequently of Samson), and of Samantha.