Lem
Masculine · “devoted to God”
Lem is Lemuel cut short, and Lemuel is Hebrew for devoted to God — a king in Proverbs whose mother's advice fills the last chapter of the book.
How old is the name Lem?
Lem was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lem alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. About 200 people named Lem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lem most popular?
Lem peaked in 1883, reaching #337 nationally. See the whole 1883 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lemu'el to Lem
The story of Lem
Lemuel appears only in Proverbs, and Puritan families took it up in the seventeenth century along with the more obscure biblical names. It became common in nineteenth-century America, and speech clipped it to Lem. Swift gave his traveler the name Lemuel Gulliver. The clipping was registered outright and peaked around 1885.
Meaning
devoted to God
Through Lemuel, from the Hebrew Lemu'el — a compound of the preposition and El, 'God', read as 'belonging to God' or 'devoted to God'. The name appears in Proverbs 31, where King Lemuel reports what his mother taught him. The Hebrew is undisputed.
How the name formed
- Lemu'el
- Lemuel
- Lem
Related forms: Lemu'el · Lemuel
Pronouncing Lem
LEM
One syllable. It has no established alternative reading.
Nicknames for Lem
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191834 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #337reached in 1883
- Change vs 1971
- 0.0%6 in 1983, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lemu'el in Hebrew — related form
- Lemuel in English — related form
Lems among us
people named Lem are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lem sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Lemuel stands behind it with a genuinely unusual biblical placement.
- Lemuel is available as a full formal version.
- Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard.
- It reads as a nineteenth-century American clipping rather than a name.
- It is very short and can be swallowed by a long surname.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century.
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Lem
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Lem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lem in 2025?
- Lem is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lem with classmates?
- Lem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lem? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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