Sam
Meaning and origin
We don't have a sourced origin for Sam yet, and we would rather show nothing than guess.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Sam has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2021. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | – | 44 |
| 1999 | – | 49 |
| 2000 | – | 52 |
| 2001 | – | 61 |
| 2002 | – | 55 |
| 2003 | – | 62 |
| 2004 | – | 74 |
| 2005 | – | 81 |
| 2006 | – | 101 |
| 2007 | – | 94 |
| 2008 | – | 135 |
| 2009 | – | 139 |
| 2010 | 2 | 157 |
| 2011 | – | 190 |
| 2012 | 4 | 194 |
| 2013 | 3 | 223 |
| 2014 | – | 233 |
| 2015 | 2 | 301 |
| 2016 | 3 | 288 |
| 2017 | 4 | 295 |
| 2018 | 4 | 351 |
| 2019 | 9 | 369 |
| 2020 | 7 | 423 |
| 2021 | 8 | 498 |
| 2022 | 7 | 486 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 16 | 1,545 |
| 2000 | 15 | 1,600 |
| 2001 | 15 | 1,664 |
| 2002 | 16 | 1,708 |
| 2003 | 16 | 1,771 |
| 2004 | 16 | 1,850 |
| 2005 | 17 | 1,931 |
| 2006 | 18 | 2,032 |
| 2007 | 20 | 2,147 |
| 2008 | 20 | 2,302 |
| 2009 | 24 | 2,464 |
| 2010 | 28 | 2,640 |
| 2011 | 28 | 2,853 |
| 2012 | 36 | 3,068 |
| 2013 | 40 | 3,322 |
| 2014 | 43 | 3,596 |
| 2015 | 56 | 3,925 |
| 2016 | 70 | 4,260 |
| 2017 | 95 | 4,625 |
| 2018 | 121 | 5,039 |
| 2019 | 145 | 5,468 |
| 2020 | 167 | 5,930 |
Sam in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Sam.Hi! My name is Sam.
- Sam har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Sam has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Sam i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Sam this afternoon.
- Sams mamma är lärare.Sam's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Sams mamma is Sam's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Sam
How do you pronounce Sam in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Sam in your device's Swedish voice.
How popular is Sam in Sweden?
493 babies were named Sam in 2022. In 2020, 6,097 people in Sweden had Sam as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2021 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.