Sohum
Masculine · “I am that”
Sohum is a sentence in two syllables: so'ham, I am that. In Vedanta it is the mantra of identity, matched to the breath so that the inhalation says so and the exhalation ham, which means a person repeats it involuntarily some twenty thousand times a day.
How old is the name Sohum?
Sohum first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Sohum alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 600 people named Sohum are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sohum most popular?
Sohum peaked in 2009, reaching #2847 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 2,198 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Where it comes from
From so'ham to Sohum
The story of Sohum
The Upanishads state the identity of the self and the absolute in several short formulas, and so'ham is among the most-used of them; later yogic tradition attached it to the breath, calling it the mantra nobody has to remember to say. Giving it as a name is a modern practice and a deliberate one: it belongs to a set of Sanskrit names taken from philosophy rather than from gods or qualities. It came to American records with Indian families in the last few decades.
Meaning
I am that
Sanskrit sah, that, joined to aham, I, contracting to so'ham. The phrase asserts the identity of the individual self with the ultimate reality, and it is one of the great formulas of Advaita Vedanta.
How the name formed
- so'ham
- Sohum
Related forms: सोऽहम् · Soham
Pronouncing Sohum
SOH-hum
Two syllables, stress in front. The h is lightly sounded between the vowels; Soham and Sohum are the same name spelled two ways.
Nicknames for Sohum
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
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 200942 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2847reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- +72.7%19 in 2025, from 11
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.
Sohum in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- सोऽहम् in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Soham in Hindi — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New Jersey, Texas.
Sohums among us
people named Sohum are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Sohum
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 Shadrach test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sohum's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shadrach climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shadrach's path sketches the road Sohum is walking now.
Sohum 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
Sohum beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sohum in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a complete philosophical statement in three English words.
- Two syllables and five letters make it easy in English and Sanskrit alike.
- Every sound in it exists in English, so the name survives intact.
- Soham is the commoner spelling, so records within a family may differ.
- It is a philosophical formula, and using one as a name reads differently inside the tradition.
- Outside Indian communities the meaning is invisible and gets explained often.
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What they receive
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Sohum
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sohums are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Sohum are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sohum in 2025?
- Sohum ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sohum?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Sohum — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sohum with classmates?
- Sohum will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sohum
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sohum? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sohum and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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