By decade. Change compares yearly averages, so the current partial decade is on equal
footing. Best rank is the name's best yearly rank within the decade.
Where Salem is most popular
Girls named Salem per 1,000 girls born in
each state, 2021–2025. National average: 0.429 per 1,000.
Strongest in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.
Vs national average well below below near national above well above no data
All 50 states and DC, sorted by rate. Counts are girls named Salem born
2021–2025; the per-1,000 rate makes states of different sizes
comparable, and the last column shows each state against the national average.
State counts come from the Social Security Administration's state files, which omit any
state-year with fewer than five babies of a name, so small states can undercount slightly.
The story of Salem
Salem is moderately common for girls in the United States, ranked #436 in 2025 with 711 babies given the name. It is currently rising compared with a decade ago.
Since 1912, 11,178 American babies have been named Salem, about 58% girls and 42% boys, making it a genuinely unisex name. Its peak came in 2023, when 1,174 newborns received the name, the signature sound of the 2020s.
The chart above shows the full history: the popularity view (births per 1,000 babies) is the honest comparison across generations, since total US births have changed enormously since 1880. Switch to the rank view to see where Salem stood among all girls' names in any year, or use the compare tool to plot it against other names.