Samson
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "sun", "sun child" or "brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 11,443 living Americans carry the first name Samson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Samson today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samson births was 2024 (582 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samson. 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 Samson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 29,953 Americans
Peak year
2024
582 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#522
Tracked since 1892
Census
Samson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,455 people with the first name Samson, which placed it at #2,393 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
#2,393
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,455 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Samson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samson is White at 40.4%. The next largest groups are Black (26.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.7%). 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 Samson 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 Samson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.4% · 4,222
- Black or African American26.2% · 2,735
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.7% · 1,641
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 1,024
- Two or more races6.6% · 689
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 144
Popularity
Samson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samson from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,901 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Samson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samson 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 Samson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Samson, while New Mexico, District of Columbia, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 199 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Samson
The name Samson has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew word "shemesh," meaning "sun." The name was likely given to children born during sunny or summer months in ancient Hebrew communities.
Samson is perhaps most famously associated with the biblical figure Samson, a judge of the ancient Israelites known for his immense strength and heroic feats. The story of Samson appears in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, where he is portrayed as a warrior blessed with supernatural power by God.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Samson dates back to the 11th century BC, when it was borne by the biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Judges. In the centuries that followed, the name remained relatively uncommon in the ancient world.
The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly among Jewish communities and in some Christian circles influenced by the biblical narrative. Samson was revered as a symbol of strength and courage in medieval Europe.
Notable historical figures named Samson include Samson of Tottington, a 12th-century English nobleman and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade. Another prominent bearer of the name was Samson of Cambridge, a 12th-century English philosopher and scholar who taught at the University of Cambridge.
In the 16th century, Samson Gossen, a French Protestant reformer and theologian, made significant contributions to the Reformation movement in France. He was born in 1520 and died in 1574.
During the Renaissance, the Italian painter and architect Samson Santi, also known as Raphael, was a renowned figure in the world of art. He was born in 1483 and died in 1520, leaving behind a remarkable body of work that influenced generations of artists.
In the 19th century, Samson Raphael Hirsch, a German rabbi and scholar, played a crucial role in the development of the Torah im Derech Eretz movement, which sought to reconcile traditional Jewish observance with modern secular education. He was born in 1808 and died in 1888.
People
Samson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samson 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
Samson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,443 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samson 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 29,953 US residents.
Is Samson a common name?
We classify Samson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,235 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samson most popular?
The single biggest year for Samson was 2024, when 582 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samson is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Samson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,455 people with the name Samson, or 3.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,393 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 Samson 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 Samson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Samson appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,470 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Samson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samson is White at 40.4%. The next largest groups are Black (26.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.7%). 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 Samson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Samson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.4% (4,222 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 Samson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Samson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Samson in the SSA data are male. 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 Samson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Samson 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 Samson 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 have the name Samson?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Samson, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.