Salome
Masculine · “peace”
Salome is given to both — 682 boys and 4,942 girls since 1880. See Salome as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Salome is a Greek form of a Hebrew word about peace, and it is attached in most people's minds to a woman the Bible never names. The name got there by way of a historian writing about something else, and it belongs in the same book to a completely different woman who is named and forgotten.
How old is the name Salome?
Salome first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Salome alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 400 people named Salome are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Salome most popular?
Salome peaked in 1910, reaching #1589 nationally. See the whole 1910 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From shalom to Salome
The story of Salome
Mark and Matthew tell the story of a girl who dances at Herod's birthday and asks for a head on a plate, and neither of them gives her a name. She is the daughter of Herodias, and that is all. The name attached to her comes from Josephus, who lists the family's genealogy in his Antiquities and mentions in passing that Herodias had a daughter Salome — without saying anything about a dance. Later readers put the two together. Meanwhile the gospels do name a Salome: she is among the women who watch the crucifixion from a distance and who come to the tomb with spices, which is a considerably more substantial role than the other one gets. Nobody remembers her. Nineteen centuries of painting, opera and drama have gone to the woman the text declined to name.
Meaning
peace
From the Hebrew root shalom, in a Greek form that was common among Jewish women of the period. It is a perfectly ordinary name of its time and place; the association it now carries is entirely a matter of who got attached to it later.
How the name formed
- shalom
- Salome
Related forms: Salomé · Salomé · Salome · Shulamit
Pronouncing Salome
suh-LOH-may
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Spanish and French put an accent on the final e and stress it there, giving sa-lo-MAY, and both readings are used by American bearers.
Nicknames for Salome
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
- 1910
- Most boys named
- 192416 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1589reached in 1910
- Change vs 2005
- +50.0%9 in 2021, 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.
Salome in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Salomé in Spanish — same name
- Salomé in French — same name
- Salome in Georgian — same name
- Shulamit in Hebrew — related form
Salomes among us
people named Salome 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
Salome 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 documented, short and about as good as meanings get.
- It is a genuine name in Georgian, Spanish and French as well as English.
- Three syllables with middle stress is a comfortable English rhythm.
- The association with the dance is permanent and is not a pleasant story.
- The stress falls in different places in English and in Spanish.
- It is recorded for sons as well, though very rarely.
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What they receive
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Salome
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Salomes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Salome are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Salome in 2025?
- Salome is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Salome with classmates?
- Salome will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Steven#271 · Stephen#383 · Samuel#18 · Scott#534 · Sean#489 · Shawn#681 · Stanley#863 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Salome? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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