Shem
given name · Latin script
Meaning: A Hebrew name meaning 'name' or 'renown', historically significant as the father of the Semitic nations
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/ʃɛm/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Shem is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Kenya than in any other country.
- PHPhilippines≈1 in 66K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 388K
- KEKenya≈1 in 4.1K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Kenya (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 205 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 4.1K (inferred from the name graph)
≈13,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Kenya, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
A Hebrew name meaning 'name' or 'renown', historically significant as the father of the Semitic nations.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Shem counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KE Kenya | — | ≈13,000 est. | ≈1 in 4.1K | listed | Shem | 20 |
| NG Nigeria | — | ≈3,200 est. | ≈1 in 67K | — | Shem | 27 |
| UG Uganda | — | ≈2,500 est. | ≈1 in 17K | 2 | — | 8 |
| ID Indonesia | — | ≈2,100 est. | ≈1 in 126K | — | Shem | 25 |
| PH Philippines | — | ≈1,600 est. | ≈1 in 66K | — | Shem | 48 |
| US United States | — | 858 | 1 in 388K | 814 | Shem | 205 |
| GY Guyana | #744 | 154 | 1 in 4.9K | 154 | Shem | 2 |
| PG Papua New Guinea | — | ≈150 est. | ≈1 in 49K | 2 | — | 5 |
| VU Vanuatu | — | ≈51 est. | ≈1 in 5.8K | 1 | — | 2 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025; the masakhane register; PNG Election Results Database — candidate names (1972–2022); Wikidata humans by citizenship — given & family names; Vanuatu Electoral Office — 2022 Snap Election consolidated candidate list. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Shem is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
Shem represents the chosen lineage through which the monotheistic tradition and the people of Israel were preserved; in Christian theology, he is an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In English, The oldest son of Noah, brother to Ham and Japheth.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In English, Biblical name, eldest son of Noah
as a namePronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names
Name, renown, or fame.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In dag, 1. how; A ni nig shem go, a galimiya. How you have done, you have offended. 2. as; Di ni nye shem, a ni chag. As it is, you must go. 3. the manner in which; Di ni nye shem mbogo. The
as a wordDagbani Dictionary CD
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.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Shem Drowneb. 1683USAmerican coppersmith
- Shem Downeyb. 1922IEIrish hurler
- Shem Bageineb. 1960UGUgandan politician
- Shem von Schroeckb. 1965USAmerican composer
- Shem Tatupub. 1968NZNew Zealand rugby union and rugby league footballer
- Shem Kororiab. 1972KEKenyan long-distance runner
- Shem Thomasb. 1987CHSwiss musician
- Shem Rodgerb. 1988NZcyclist
- Shem Ngocheb. 1989KEKenyan cricketer
- Shem BittermanUSscreenwriter
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).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 40 sources across 25 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 814 | #13,898 |
| GY Guyana | Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025 | 2025 | 154 | #441 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 44 | #13,898 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1978 | 23 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1976 | 23 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1977 | 21 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1981 | 18 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2022 | 17 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2018 | 17 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2015 | 17 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1982 | 17 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1972 | 17 | — |
Reference works 2
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Shem mean, and where does it come from?
- A Hebrew name meaning 'name' or 'renown', historically significant as the father of the Semitic nations. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- How do you pronounce Shem?
- A machine transcription gives /ʃɛm/ (IPA) for English.
- Is Shem a male or female name?
- Shem is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What are other forms of the name Shem?
- In the etymology graph, Sem is a form of the same name in other languages.
- In which country does Shem have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 13 thousand people named Shem in Kenya, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled shem.
- How common is the name Shem?
- In the United States, the national register counted 858 people named Shem in 2020, about 1 in 388 thousand residents.
- How common is Shem compared with other names?
- In Guyana, Shem is the 744th most common given name of 15,440 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Shem?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/shemThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Shem” — the 744th most common given name in Guyana. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.