How popular is the baby name Sam in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Sam.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Sam


Posts that mention the name Sam

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2023

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island of Ireland — welcomed roughly 55,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Grace and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl Names

  1. Grace, 339 baby girls
  2. Fiadh (pronounced FEE-a), 300
  3. Emily, 297
  4. Sophie, 283
  5. Lily, 270
  6. Ellie, 252
  7. Mia, 242
  8. Amelia, 241 (tie)
  9. Éabha (pronounced EY-va), 241 (tie)
  10. Ella, 231
  11. Isla, 227
  12. Hannah, 226
  13. Sophia, 218
  14. Lucy, 214
  15. Ava, 207
  16. Sadie, 200
  17. Olivia, 199
  18. Freya, 188
  19. Emma, 183
  20. Chloe, 181
  21. Robyn, 180
  22. Molly, 176
  23. Anna, 166 (tie)
  24. Croía (pronounced KREE-a), 166 (tie)
  25. Evie, 165
  26. Caoimhe (pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va), 158
  27. Saoirse (pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha), 157 (tie)
  28. Cara, 157 (tie)
  29. Sofia, 156
  30. Millie, 150
  31. Aoife (pronounced EE-fa), 148
  32. Isabelle, 132
  33. Bonnie, 130
  34. Maya, 128 (tie)
  35. Ada, 128 (tie)
  36. Róisín (pronounced ROH-sheen), 127
  37. Ruby, 126
  38. Kate, 123 (tie)
  39. Alice, 123 (tie)
  40. Holly, 120 (3-way tie)
  41. Erin, 120 (3-way tie)
  42. Sadhbh (pronounced siev; rhymes with “5”), 120 (3-way tie)
  43. Leah, 119
  44. Isabella, 118 (3-way tie)
  45. Ailbhe (pronounced AL-va), 118 (3-way tie)
  46. Méabh (pronounced mayv), 118 (3-way tie)
  47. Zoe, 115
  48. Annie, 112
  49. Ivy, 111
  50. Willow, 110

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 561 baby boys
  2. Noah, 473
  3. James, 369
  4. Rían (pronounced REE-an), 339
  5. Oisín (pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen), 330
  6. Fionn (pronounced fyun or fyoon), 306
  7. Tadhg (pronounced tieg, like the first part of “tiger”), 301
  8. Liam, 289
  9. Cillian (pronounced KIL-ee-an), 275
  10. Daniel, 256
  11. Finn, 251
  12. Conor, 244 (tie)
  13. Charlie, 244 (tie)
  14. Seán (pronounced shawn), 240
  15. Michael, 239
  16. Leo, 237
  17. Theo, 233
  18. Thomas, 227
  19. Patrick, 221
  20. Luke, 215
  21. Tommy, 214
  22. Oliver, 211
  23. Adam, 201
  24. Harry, 198
  25. Luca, 197
  26. Darragh, 195
  27. Alex, 175
  28. Bobby, 157
  29. Cian (pronounced KEE-an or keen), 156
  30. Oscar, 154
  31. John, 152 (tie)
  32. Max, 152 (tie)
  33. Ryan, 151
  34. Páidí (pronounced PAW-dee), 150
  35. Jamie, 149
  36. Ben, 147
  37. Kai, 141 (tie)
  38. Ollie, 141 (tie)
  39. Tom, 135
  40. Matthew, 134
  41. Dylan, 132
  42. Callum, 131
  43. Sonny, 130
  44. Sam, 129
  45. Ethan, 127 (tie)
  46. Alfie, 127 (tie)
  47. David, 122
  48. Alexander, 118
  49. Mason, 116
  50. Caelan, 114

New to the girls’ top 100 were Lucia, Cadhla (pronounced KIE-la) and Síofra (pronounced SHEE-fra).

New to the boys’ top 100 were Caelan, Jude, Paddy, Éanna (pronounced EY-na) and Dáithí (pronounced DAH-hee).

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Éala (increased by 41 baby girls), Ailbhe (+40), Méabh (+36), Zara (+33), Croía (+26)
  • Caelan (increased by 58 baby boys), Páidí (+41), Arlo (+35), Tommy (+30), Mark (+28)

And the fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Síofra (rose 57 spots on the girls’ list), Lucia (+43), Éala (+38), Lottie (+36), Zara (+31)
  • Caelan (rose 58 spots on the boys’ list), Mark (+46), Ruairí (+41), Eoin (+37), Arlo (+31)
Map of the four provinces of Ireland
Ireland’s four provinces

Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Leinster
(56% of the population)
GraceJack
Munster
(27% of pop.)
GraceJack
Connacht
(11% of pop.)
FiadhJack
Ulster [ROI portion]
(6% of pop.)
LilyJack

And what about the baby names at the other end of the spectrum?

Here’s a selection of the names that were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Adara, Brídín, Cushla, Dottie, Eilidh, Féile, Gillian, Hezlin, Iona, Jolene, Kalina, Lorna, Maliha, Natasha, Ocean, Philomena, Ríonach, Saffie, Tuiren, Vedika, Yasmine, ZadieAlby, Bram, Conal, Douglas, Elvis, Finnian, Gerald, Igor, Jonnie, Keenan, Lughaidh, Maitiú, Nathanael, Orin, Patryk, Rylan, Séadhna, Téidí, Ultán, Viktor, Wren, Yohan, Zachariah

Finally, here are Ireland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2023), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2023

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

Last year, from January to November, the Netherlands welcomed 164,269 babies — 80,074 girls and 84,195 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Julia and Noah.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Julia, 681 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 605
  3. Mila, 603
  4. Emma, 596
  5. Sophie, 578
  6. Nora, 543
  7. Yara, 493
  8. Saar, 491
  9. Noor, 488
  10. Tess, 478
  11. Sara, 469
  12. Milou, 449
  13. Evi, 446
  14. Zoë, 441
  15. Luna, 428
  16. Liv, 425
  17. Elin, 423
  18. Anna, 421
  19. Nina, 405
  20. Maeve, 403
  21. Lina, 392
  22. Lauren, 391
  23. Lotte, 380
  24. Eva, 372
  25. Mia, 368
  26. Maud, 360
  27. Sofia, 357
  28. Sarah, 353
  29. Emily, 344
  30. Lynn, 333
  31. Sofie, 328
  32. Ella, 325
  33. Loïs, 324
  34. Livia, 318
  35. Hailey, 310
  36. Fleur, 309
  37. Lieke, 306
  38. Julie, 301
  39. Isa, 300
  40. Nova, 299
  41. Fenna, 296
  42. Noa, 291
  43. Roos, 275
  44. Noé, 266
  45. Sophia, 259
  46. Lily, 253
  47. Romée, 251
  48. Hannah, 246
  49. Fien, 242
  50. Bo, 238

Boy names

  1. Noah, 888 baby boys
  2. Luca, 674
  3. Lucas, 648
  4. Liam, 643
  5. Levi, 601
  6. Sem, 587
  7. Daan, 573
  8. Mees, 571
  9. Noud, 567
  10. James, 561
  11. Milan, 534
  12. Adam, 532
  13. Finn, 527
  14. Sam, 521
  15. Zayn, 495
  16. Luuk, 489
  17. Mason, 432
  18. Bram, 420
  19. Mats, 397
  20. Guus, 372
  21. Siem, 366
  22. Boaz, 360
  23. Benjamin, 356 (tie)
  24. Gijs, 356 (tie)
  25. Jesse, 353
  26. Thomas, 333
  27. Olivier, 331
  28. Otis, 324
  29. Teun, 320
  30. Owen, 310
  31. Oliver, 305 (tie)
  32. Thijs, 305 (tie)
  33. Morris, 304
  34. Moos, 303
  35. Jens, 299
  36. Floris, 298
  37. Joep, 294
  38. Jan, 289
  39. Ties, 286
  40. Mick, 282
  41. Max, 279
  42. Abel, 276
  43. Jake, 275
  44. David, 273 (tie)
  45. Tobias, 273 (tie)
  46. Julian, 270
  47. Jip, 266
  48. Lars, 264
  49. Hugo, 260
  50. Mohammed, 255

The girls’ top 100 included Juna (tied for 59th), Lizzy (tied for 71st), Loua (76th), and Novi (tied for 88th).

The boys’ top 100 included Jurre (tied for 52nd), Fedde (59th), Aiden (74th), and Cas (96th).

Map of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands
The Netherlands’ 12 provinces

Home to nearly 18 million people, the Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces. The most popular baby names within each of the 12 provinces last year were…

Top girl nameTop boy name
South Holland
(21.4% of the population)
OliviaNoah
North Holland
(16.6% of pop.)
OliviaNoah
North Brabant
(14.7% of pop.)
SaarNoud
Gelderland
(12.0% of pop.)
JuliaNoah
Utrecht
(7.8% of pop.)
NoraLucas
Overijssel
(6.6% of pop.)
JuliaLuca
Limburg
(6.3% of pop.)
EmmaNoah
Friesland
(3.7% of pop.)
LiekeHidde
Groningen
(3.3% of pop.)
ElinNoah
Drenthe
(2.8% of pop.)
LotteDaan
Flevoland
(2.5% of pop.)
HaileyJan
Zeeland
(2.2% of pop.)
OliviaLucas

Finally, here are the Netherlands’ 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Kindernamen home | Kindernamen | SVB, Julia en Noah de populairste kindernamen van 2023, Regionale kerncijfers Nederland – CBS StatLine

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of the Netherlands by Arz under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular baby names in Sweden, 2022

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

Sweden, home to over 10 million people, is easily the most populous of the five Nordic countries. (Denmark, Finland, and Norway each contain between 5 and 6 million people; Iceland contains fewer than half a million.)

Last year, Sweden welcomed 104,734 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Astrid and William.

Here are Sweden’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Astrid, 603 baby girls
  2. Maja, 601
  3. Alma, 596
  4. Vera, 592
  5. Freja, 584
  6. Leah, 570
  7. Ella, 563
  8. Alice, 552
  9. Selma, 540
  10. Lilly, 530
  11. Elsa, 528
  12. Ellie, 513
  13. Ines, 512
  14. Olivia, 504
  15. Stella, 482
  16. Wilma, 474
  17. Signe, 456
  18. Ebba, 453
  19. Ester, 433
  20. Clara, 429
  21. Saga, 412
  22. Alva, 403
  23. Agnes, 402
  24. Alicia, 383
  25. Mila, 378
  26. Juni, 364
  27. Molly, 354
  28. Leia, 349 (tie)
  29. Luna, 349 (tie)
  30. Iris, 348
  31. Hedda, 339
  32. Julia, 321
  33. Alba, 320
  34. Ellen, 302
  35. Sigrid, 292
  36. Elvira, 289
  37. Nora, 283
  38. Edith, 276 (tie)
  39. Sara, 276 (tie)
  40. Meja, 273
  41. Celine, 256
  42. Nellie, 253
  43. Lova, 252
  44. Livia, 251 (tie)
  45. Nova, 251 (tie)
  46. Lykke, 250
  47. Rut, 248
  48. Elise, 244 (tie)
  49. Lo, 244 (tie)
  50. Sofia, 235

Boy Names

  1. William, 690 baby boys
  2. Liam, 679
  3. Noah, 677
  4. Hugo, 643
  5. Oliver, 629
  6. Lucas, 616
  7. Nils, 579
  8. Matteo, 571
  9. Valter, 566
  10. August, 565
  11. Elias, 559 (tie)
  12. Leon, 559 (tie)
  13. Adam, 556
  14. Leo, 545
  15. Ludvig, 507
  16. Alfred, 502
  17. Oscar, 490
  18. Sam, 488
  19. Theo, 474
  20. Otto, 469
  21. Arvid, 450
  22. Harry, 436
  23. Frans, 429
  24. Charlie, 424
  25. Elliot, 407 (tie)
  26. Isak, 407 (tie)
  27. Malte, 401
  28. Theodor, 395
  29. Vincent, 383
  30. Elton, 371
  31. Olle, 366
  32. Louie, 363
  33. Benjamin, 358
  34. Gabriel, 351
  35. Ebbe, 343
  36. Alexander, 338
  37. Adrian, 337 (tie)
  38. Axel, 337 (tie)
  39. Love, 328
  40. Henry, 325
  41. Tage, 317
  42. Filip, 315 (tie)
  43. Ted, 315 (tie)
  44. Noel, 310
  45. Josef, 300
  46. Mohammed, 298
  47. Melvin, 297
  48. Jack, 287
  49. Aron, 286
  50. Viggo, 281

Astrid and William rose from 9th place and 2nd place (respectively) in 2021 to dethrone former #1 names Alice and Noah in 2022.

The girls’ top 100 included Sally (53rd), Tuva (65th), Idun (86th), and Eira (98th).

The boys’ top 100 included Sixten (67th), Vide (81st), Folke (86th), and Algot (90th).

The names in Sweden’s top 100 that rose the fastest from 2021 to 2022 were Ronja and Ture. Ture’s rise was particularly impressive:

  • 2022: 251 baby boys named Ture in Sweden [rank: 58th]
  • 2021: 163 baby boys named Ture in Sweden [rank: 84th]
  • 2020: 175 baby boys named Ture in Sweden [rank: 81st]
  • 2019: 171 baby boys named Ture in Sweden [rank: 84th]

The names that saw the steepest drops in usage were Emilia and Sigge.

Finally, some strange news:

Statistics Sweden will stop producing name statistics as of 2024. The reason for this is that Statistics Sweden will prioritize the production of other statistics.

So, will these 2022 rankings be the last set of Swedish rankings we see for a while? (Perhaps a long while?)

How interesting that, not long after Canada decides to begin releasing national rankings, Sweden decides to stop releasing national rankings…

Sources: Name statistics – Statistics Sweden, Population statistics – Statistics Sweden, Nordic Countries – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2022

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

The island of Ireland, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, happens to be the third-largest island in Europe (after Great Britain and Iceland).

Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island — welcomed over 57,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emily, 349 baby girls
  2. Grace, 342
  3. Fiadh, 320 – pronounced FEE-a
  4. Sophie, 292
  5. Lily, 291
  6. Éabha, 271 – pronounced EY-va
  7. Ava, 269
  8. Mia, 262
  9. Ellie, 259
  10. Olivia, 258
  11. Amelia, 250 (tie)
  12. Emma, 250 (tie)
  13. Hannah, 248
  14. Ella, 240
  15. Freya, 234
  16. Lucy, 232
  17. Isla, 228
  18. Saoirse, 212 – pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha
  19. Millie, 206
  20. Sadie, 201
  21. Sophia, 200
  22. Molly, 195
  23. Chloe, 191
  24. Caoimhe, 190 – pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va
  25. Anna, 186
  26. Evie, 181
  27. Isabelle, 178
  28. Robyn, 177
  29. Alice, 160
  30. Aoife, 158 – pronounced EE-fa
  31. Róisín, 157 – pronounced ROH-sheen
  32. Sadhbh, 153 – pronounced siev (rhymes with the number “five”).
  33. Cara, 152
  34. Katie, 151
  35. Erin, 150
  36. Kate, 147
  37. Willow, 145
  38. Croía, 140 (3-way tie) – pronounced KREE-a
  39. Ruby, 140 (3-way tie)
  40. Sofia, 140 (3-way tie)
  41. Bonnie, 135
  42. Holly, 129 (tie)
  43. Zoe, 129 (tie)
  44. Sienna, 126
  45. Isabella, 125 (tie)
  46. Maya, 125 (tie)
  47. Sarah, 121
  48. Ada, 119
  49. Rosie, 111
  50. Leah, 109

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 641 baby boys
  2. Noah, 485
  3. James, 412
  4. Rían, 372
  5. Charlie, 348
  6. Oisín, 340 – pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen
  7. Tadhg, 324 – pronounced tieg (like the first three letters of “tiger”)
  8. Liam, 323
  9. Cillian, 316 – pronounced KIL-ee-an
  10. Daniel, 303
  11. Fionn, 287
  12. Michael, 278
  13. Conor, 275
  14. Finn, 269
  15. Patrick, 250
  16. Thomas, 246
  17. Darragh, 245
  18. Harry, 242
  19. Seán, 239
  20. Luke, 233
  21. Theo, 232
  22. Adam, 230
  23. Leo, 225
  24. Alex, 216
  25. Oliver, 201
  26. Ryan, 190
  27. Max, 189
  28. Cian, 185 – pronounced KEE-an or keen
  29. Tommy, 184
  30. Luca, 179
  31. Bobby, 170
  32. Mason, 167
  33. Dylan, 163 (3-way tie)
  34. Jamie, 163 (3-way tie)
  35. Kai, 163 (3-way tie)
  36. John, 160
  37. Ollie, 159
  38. Oscar, 156
  39. Shay, 152
  40. Alexander, 149 (tie)
  41. Ben, 149 (tie)
  42. Matthew, 146
  43. David, 143 (tie)
  44. Tom, 143 (tie)
  45. Ethan, 141
  46. Donnacha, 140 – pronounced DUN-uh-ka or DUN-uh-kha (the kh represents a guttural H-sound)
  47. Alfie, 139
  48. Jacob, 131
  49. Billy, 128
  50. Sam, 125

New to the girls’ top 100 were the names Hailey, Phoebe, Ayda, and Éala.

New to the boys’ top 100 were the names Blake and Cody.

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Millie (+58 baby girls), Olivia (+39), Éala (+32), Ellie (+31), Isabelle (+31)
  • Luca (+58 baby boys), Oisín (+38), Leo (+33), Kai (+33), Tomás (+30)

The fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Éala (+86 places), Phoebe (+45), Mary (+40), Hailey (+38), Ayda (+29)
  • Tomás (+42 places), Anthony (+31), Christopher (+29), Joey (+25), Kayden (+25)
Map of the four provinces of Ireland
Ireland’s four provinces

Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Leinster
(56% of the population)
EmilyJack
Munster
(27% of pop.)
EmilyJack
Connacht
(11% of pop.)
ÉabhaJack
Ulster [ROI portion]
(6% of pop.)
GraceJack

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? The following were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Ananya, Beatriz, Cliona, Dina, Eilidh, Faela, Fianna, Isadora, Joan, Khadija, Líadh, Luisne, Miruna, Morrigan, Nala, Orlagh, Prunelle, Réiltín, Saffie, Scotia, Tilda, Vamika, ZohaAilbe, Brooklyn, Caoilte, Denzel, Eamonn, Féidhlim, Geoffrey, Henrik, Isa, Josiah, Kamal, Lúan, Manus, Nilan, Ógie, Pio, Rokas, Séadhna, Tiernán, Viraj, Wayne, Yousuf, Zoraiz

Finally, here are Ireland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing more Irish name pronunciations, just click that link.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2022), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO (Vital Statistics Yearly Summary 2022), Data – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: Feb. 2024]