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Samuel

“Samuel derives from the Hebrew name Shemu'el (שְׁמוּאֵל), meaning "God has heard" or "name of God," combining the elements "shem" (name) and "El" (God).”

English · Boy · 2 syllables

S
Top 50

Popularity & facts

Relative popularity index, 2010–2025
GenderBoy
US Rank#18
TrendStable
Peak year2001
Syllables2
OriginEnglish
LanguageEnglish
CultureEnglish, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Swedish, Norwe
ReligionJudaism, Christianity
Letters6
Numerology8 Chaldean 22
Global rank#16

Popularity over time

Popularity index
Hover the line to see any year. 100 = most popular.

Historical popularity from 1880–2025 · US Social Security Administration data

About the name Samuel

Samuel derives from the Hebrew name Shemu'el (שְׁמוּאֵל), meaning "God has heard" or "name of God," combining the elements "shem" (name) and "El" (God).

Cross-referenced with Wikidata/Wikipedia. AI-assisted, community-reviewable. Suggest an improvement.

Etymology

Samuel derives from the Hebrew name Shemu'el (שְׁמוּאֵל), meaning "God has heard" or "name of God," combining the elements "shem" (name) and "El" (God). The name is prominent in Judaism and Christianity, most famously borne by the biblical prophet Samuel in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and has been widely adopted across Western cultures since the Middle Ages.

Samuel currently ranks #18 in the United States as a boy's name. It reached its peak popularity around 2001.

Variants & nicknames

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Sibling name ideas

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