Samir
Masculine
Samir is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 11,094 boys against 69 girls since 1880.
Samir arrives in English by two long roads at once: from Arabic, where it names the companion who keeps you talking into the night, and from Sanskrit, where the near-identical word means wind or breeze. Two syllables, both open, the second one carrying the stress and the long vowel — sah-MEER. It has been used in the United States long enough to have grandfathers as well as kindergartners.
How old is the name Samir?
Samir first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Samir alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 11,000 people named Samir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Samir most popular?
Samir peaked in 2023, reaching #586 nationally. Today it ranks #643, 57 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Samir appears on these lists:
Works in Arabic families too:
Where it comes from
From samar (Arabic: evening talk) to Samir
The story of Samir
The Arabic Samīr is old and unbroken, spread with Arabic and Islam from the Middle East and North Africa into the Balkans, where it became a common given name among Bosniaks, and into Turkey, Iran and beyond. The Sanskrit samīra traveled a separate route through Hindi, Marathi and Urdu, most often written Sameer in English. Twentieth-century migration brought both to the United States, where the shorter spelling Samir became the usual one — which is why the American Samir may have family from Casablanca, Sarajevo, Beirut or Mumbai. In France, arrivals from the Maghreb made it a familiar name generations ago.
Meaning
"Companion in evening conversation" (Arabic); "wind, breeze" (Sanskrit)
These are two separate names that meet at one spelling. The Arabic Samīr comes from samar, the talk people make after dark, so the name describes a good late-night companion. The Sanskrit samīra means wind or breeze, and reaches English mainly through the spelling Sameer in South Asia. Each origin is well established; which one applies depends on the family.
How the name formed
- samarArabic: evening talk
- Samīr
- Samir
Related forms: سمير · समीर / Sameer · Samir · Samir · Semir · Samira
Pronouncing Samir
sah-MEER
Stress falls on the second syllable, which holds a long ee. English speakers sometimes flatten it to SAM-eer or suh-MEER; correcting it once usually settles the matter, and both versions are widely heard in the US.
Nicknames for Samir
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
- 1957
- Most boys named
- 2024486 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #586reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −10.7%434 in 2025, from 486
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.
Samir in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سمير in Arabic — transliteration
- समीर / Sameer in Hindi — spelling variant
- Samir in Bosnian — same name
- Samir in French — same name
- Semir in Turkish — related form
- Samira in Arabic (feminine) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Florida, Texas.
Samirs among us
people named Samir are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,936 born in 2025 was named Samir
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kenton test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Samir's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kenton climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kenton's path sketches the road Samir is walking now.
Samir sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Samir is headed
Samir should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Samir beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Samir in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognized on sight across Arabic-speaking countries, South Asia, the Balkans and France — a name that needs no explaining in much of the world.
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, with no silent letters and nothing to guess at.
- Comes with Sam and Sammy already built in, both long established in English.
- Centuries of continuous use behind it, and a presence in US records spanning several generations.
- Samir and Sameer are both in real use, so expect to spell it out and to see the other version on forms. Choosing the one that matches your family's language settles most of it.
- In American mouths it can quietly become Sam, which some families welcome and others do not. Worth deciding in advance how you feel about that.
- Stress placement wanders — sah-MEER, SAM-eer, suh-MEER all get said. A child learns to offer their own version early, and most do it without fuss.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Samir to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Samir
Masculine · #643 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Samirs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,000 people named Samir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Samir in 2025?
- Samir ranks #643 among US boy names in 2025, with 434 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Samir?
- About 1 in every 3,936 US boys born in 2025 was named Samir — 434 in all.
- Will my child share the name Samir with classmates?
- Samir will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Samir
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amias#642 · Lochlan#644 · Julio#641 · Azael#645 · Chris#646 · Memphis#639 · Kasai#639 · Sam#647
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Samir? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Samir and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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