Salimah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "peaceful, safe, unharmed, healthy".
Name Census estimates that about 266 living Americans carry the first name Salimah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Salimah today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Salimah births was 1998 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Salimah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Salimah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
266
~ 1 in 1,288,550 Americans
Peak year
1998
13 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,863
Tracked since 1969
Census
Salimah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 351 people with the first name Salimah, which placed it at #26,494 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#26,494
National first-name rank
People counted
351
351 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
55.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Salimah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Salimah is Black at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.6%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Salimah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Salimah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American55.8% · 196
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.6% · 90
- Two or more races7.4% · 26
- White6.6% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 16
Popularity
Salimah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Salimah from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 70 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Salimah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Salimah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Salimah
The name Salimah has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic root word "salama," which means peace, safety, or security. The name is believed to have emerged during the early days of Islam, around the 7th century CE.
Salimah was a common name among Arab women during the medieval period, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa regions. It was often given to newborn girls as a wish for them to live a life of peace and tranquility.
In Islamic literature, the name Salimah is mentioned in various historical texts and religious scriptures. One notable reference is in the Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad), where a woman named Salimah bint Qays is mentioned as a companion of the Prophet and one of the earliest converts to Islam.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Salimah can be traced back to the 7th and 8th centuries CE, during the early Islamic era. Several women with this name are mentioned in historical records and biographies of that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women who bore the name Salimah. One of the most famous was Salimah bint Abu Bakr, the daughter of Abu Bakr, who was one of the closest companions of Prophet Muhammad and the first Caliph of Islam after the Prophet's death.
Another prominent figure was Salimah bint Said, a renowned Arab poet and literary figure who lived in the 7th century CE. She was known for her eloquence and her contributions to Arabic literature.
In the 12th century, Salimah bint Ali Al-Sufi was a notable Muslim astronomer and scholar from Persia (modern-day Iran). She made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and is credited with developing innovative techniques for observing and mapping the stars.
Salimah bint Ammar Al-Hamdaniyah was a 10th-century Arab poet and literary figure from Syria. She was renowned for her poetry and her participation in literary gatherings and cultural events of her time.
In the 19th century, Salimah Agha was a prominent figure in the Ottoman Empire. She was a highly influential woman who served as the chief harem supervisor (Valide Sultan) during the reign of Sultan Abdulmejid I, and played a significant role in Ottoman politics and society.
People
Salimah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Salimah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Salimah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Salimah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Salimah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,288,550 US residents.
Is Salimah a common name?
We classify Salimah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 276 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Salimah most popular?
The single biggest year for Salimah was 1998, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Salimah is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Salimah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 351 people with the name Salimah, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,494 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Salimah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Salimah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Salimah appears almost entirely female. Of the 355 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Salimah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Salimah is Black at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.6%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Salimah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Salimah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.8% (196 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Salimah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Salimah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Salimah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Salimah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Salimah in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Salimah can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Salimah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Salimah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.