Recorded 1912–2025 · United States
Salem was most popular in 2023, when 1,174 American babies were given the name — ranking #564 that year. In 2025 it ranked #600, with 1,111 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 11,178 people named Salem.
Salem first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1912, which makes it about 113 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 75 of the 114 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 11,178 American births named Salem between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 10,974 are estimated to be alive today.
1,111 American babies were named Salem in 2025, ranking #600 that year.
Salem is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 1,105 births a year, against 203 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +444% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Salem is a unisex name — 58.1% of the 11,178 Americans given it were girls and 41.9% were boys. It changed hands: since 2014 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 62% girls and 38% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 10,974 Americans named Salem are alive today — 98% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 5 years old, and half are between 3 and 11. That is a narrow band because Salem is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Salem on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org