How popular is the baby name Shemuel 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 Shemuel.

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Popularity of the baby name Shemuel


Posts that mention the name Shemuel

Baby name story: Sam

Uncle Sam army recruitment poster

On July 9, 1943, the Allies invaded the island of Sicily. Within six weeks they had expelled the Axis entirely, opening up Mediterranean sea lanes for Allied ships and setting the stage for the invasion of mainland Italy.

But before the battle was over, in early August, two American servicemen — 1st Lt. Lawrence Taylor (who was a doctor) and Sgt. Milton Spelman — helped a Sicilian woman give birth a baby boy amid the chaos.

As a thank-you to the American doctor, she decided to name the baby Sam after Uncle Sam.

“The shells were landing all about,” Taylor recalled, “but we got through the delivery okay. The mother, who lived in New York once, told us her husband was with an Italian combat unit near Rome and believed in fascism. But she didn’t. Spelman and I became little Sam’s god-fathers.”

So how did Uncle Sam get his name? The Library of Congress says that the origin of the term “Uncle Sam” is obscure, but “[h]istorical sources attribute the name to a meat packer who supplied meat to the army during the War of 1812” — Samuel Wilson (1766-1854) of Troy, New York. According to the story, the soldiers who knew of “Uncle Sam” Wilson began to associate his nickname with the “U.S.” stamp on packaged meats, and over time the nickname simply became associated with anything marked “U.S.”

The name Samuel comes from the Hebrew name Shemuel/Shmuel and is typically defined as “name of God” (shem + el). Another possible definition is “heard of God” (shama + el).

P.S. More WWII baby names: Adolf Hitler, Dorie, Fifinella, Hai-Hu, Irene, Jesse Roper, Linda Ann, Linda, Roger, Tunisia, and Vee.

Sources:

Image: “I want you for U.S. Army” poster – LOC

Baby name needed: Name for biracial baby boy

A reader named Laurie is trying to find a name for her baby boy:

I am white, my boyfriend is black. […] The problem is he does not want a “ghetto” baby name, but I don’t want a plain old “Matt or Jeff” name. He seems to be stuck on the name Martell but it reminds me of the name Martin…I hate it. He has now said he wants the name to end in -tell, as in “Dontell” (his brother). I am not creative enough to think of any names that end in -tell, please help me.

I couldn’t come up with many -tell names, either. But there are plenty of names that end with an L-sound, such as:

Abdul
Ansel
Axel
Cordell
Cornell
Darnell
Darrell
Denzel
Derrell
Donell
Durrell
Emmanuel
Ezekiel
Farrell
Ferrell
Gabriel
Harrell
Howell
Ishmael
Jamal
Jarrell
Jemuel
Jerrell
Joel
Khalil
Kordell
Latrell
Lemuel
Lindell
Lionel
Lowell
Lydell
Markell
Maxwell
Mitchell
Montel
Nathaniel
Nemuel
Newell
Nigel
Parnell
Phanuel
Randal
Roswell
Russell
Shamal
Shemuel
Terrell
Tyrel
Vernell
Wendell
Zuriel

Do any of you have other name suggestions or advice for Laurie?