Salem vs Saloma
American parents have registered 11,178 Salems since 1880, against 714 Salomas. Salem is still ahead, with 1,111 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Salem Saloma
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 94 years in which either name was published, Salem for 72 years and Saloma for 22 years. The lead changed hands 13 times.
- 1888–1915 Saloma ahead
- 1918–1951 Salem ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1954–1968 Saloma ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1969–2025 Salem ahead
8 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Salem | Saloma | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 11,178 | 714 |
| Most in one year | 1,174 | 24 |
| Babies in 2025 | 1,111 | 20 |
| Estimated living today | 11,000 | 580 |
| Median age today | 4 | 18 |
| Peak year | 2023 | 2023 |
| Best rank | 417th girls | 5,248th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 435th | 5,917th |
| First recorded | 1912 | 1888 |
| Girls / boys | 6,491 / 4,687 | 714 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Salomas alive today are over 18; half the Salems are over 4. That is 14 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Salem North Carolina (3.4×), Nevada (3.2×), Tennessee (2.0×)
- Saloma Missouri (13.1×), Pennsylvania (9.5×), Ohio (3.4×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Salem and Saloma.