Sham

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Shyam in IN India, US United States, NL Netherlands and 15 more, Syam in AE United Arab Emirates, SA Saudi Arabia and Sam in BD Bangladesh.

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◐

Sham is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name71K records spelled Sham2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Pakistan, Malaysia

  Also written Shām

• English given name43K records spelled Sham22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Malaysia, Syria

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Shãm, Śhám, Shâm, Shäm, Shám

• Malay given name15K records spelled Sham3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Syria

  Languages: Malay, Indonesian

  Also written Shåm

• Spanish given name3.3K records spelled Sham7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, India, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Şham, Ŝĥặṃ, Šhàm, Shäm, Shãm

• French given name1.6K records spelled Sham8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Syria, Spain, India

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Shãm, Shâm, Shàm, Shäm, Shǻm

• Turkish given name1.2K records spelled Sham7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Syria, India, United States

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek

  Also written Şham, Şhãm

52 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●

Sham is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Sham är ett arabiskt kvinnonamn, möjligen hämtat från det geografiska namnet Al Sham som historiskt omfattade det nuvarande Syrien med omnejd. Namnet har även tolkats som att det betyder ’lugn, fridfullhet’ eller ’ljus’ (subst.).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Russian, Efim Terenteev syn Kuznets Sham. 1547.

  as a word·A Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)

• In Hausa, Syria (a country in West Asia, in the Middle East)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In kaa, candle

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

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●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 97 years between 1915–2017. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Cen Shenb. 715CNnot in their usual namepoet
• 岑建勋b. 1952CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong actor and film producer
• Sam Hou Faib. 1962CNnot in their usual nameMacau judge and politician, the 6th Chief Executive of Macau
• Shum Kwok Puib. 1970CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong footballer
• Farhad Samjib. 1974INnot in their usual nameIndian film director and screenwriter
• Harry Shum Jr.b. 1982CRnot in their usual nameAmerican actor and dancer (born 1982)
• Eliza Samb. 1984CAnot in their usual nameCanadian actress
• Tailor Shamb. 1985CNHong Kong footballer
• Lester Shumb. 1993USnot in their usual nameHong Kong social activist
• Sid Shamactor

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 · 353 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Sham?

We estimate roughly 133 thousand people bear Sham (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Sham have the most bearers?

Sham is most frequently recorded in India, where it is most often spelled shyam.

Where is Sham most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Sham is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 905 people — even though India holds more of our records for it.

How common is Sham compared with other names?

In India, Sham is the 94th most common given name of 4,777,337 given names recorded there.

Is Sham a male or female name?

Sham is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Sham mean?

Recorded meaning: Intended to deceive; false.