Naaman
Masculine · “Pleasantness”
Naaman is a foreign general in his own story, and the text keeps saying so — the point of the episode is that the man being helped is on the other side.
How old is the name Naaman?
Naaman first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Naaman alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 700 people named Naaman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Naaman most popular?
Naaman peaked in 1912, reaching #1885 nationally. See the whole 1912 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Na'aman to Naaman
The story of Naaman
The commander of the army of a hostile kingdom has a skin disease, and the person who tells him where to go for help is a captured Israelite girl working in his house — the text mentions her in one line and never returns to her. He goes, is sent instructions by a prophet who will not come out to meet him, is furious about the informality, is talked round by his own servants, and is cured. Then he asks permission to keep worshipping his own god at work, and is told to go in peace. Almost nothing about the episode behaves the way a nationalist story is supposed to, which is why it has been argued about for two and a half thousand years.
Meaning
Pleasantness
The Hebrew root behind the name is about being pleasant or agreeable, the same root that gives Naomi. It was a Semitic name in wide use well beyond Israel, which is consistent with the story giving it to a Syrian.
How the name formed
- Na'aman
- Naaman
Related forms: Nu'man · Na'aman
Pronouncing Naaman
NAY-uh-mun
Three syllables, stress at the front. Hebrew and Arabic both separate the two a sounds with a consonant English does not have.
Nicknames for Naaman
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 200520 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1885reached in 1912
- Change vs 2022
- +20.0%6 in 2024, from 5
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.
Naaman in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nu'man in Arabic — related form
- Na'aman in Hebrew — same name
Naamans among us
people named Naaman 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
Naaman 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
- The meaning is settled and pleasant, and it is shared with a familiar woman's name.
- It is genuinely rare while being entirely readable.
- The story attached to it is unusually humane.
- The doubled a in the middle invites a pause that English readers are not sure what to do with.
- It will be heard as Norman or Newman by people working from sound.
- The name belongs to an era of American biblical naming that has not returned.
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Naaman
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Naamans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Naaman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Naaman in 2025?
- Naaman is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Naaman with classmates?
- Naaman will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nicholas#112 · Nathan#63 · Noah#2 · Nathaniel#140 · Norman#1196 · Nolan#65 · Neil#850 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Naaman? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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