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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: ArabicIn Israel: rising fast

ShamsIn Hebrew: שמס · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: שַׁמְס

Shams (Hebrew: שמס) is a girl's name of Arabic origin. 2,151 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 197 girls and ranked #105. Its peak year was 2024, with 212 babies.

People in Israel
2,151
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
197
rank #105
Peak year
2024
212 babies
USA, 2025
42
rank #3,577

Writing and saying Shams

In Hebrew letters the name is שמס, read right to left. Shams is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms.

We have no sourced English explanation of this name yet, so we do not guess one. The Hebrew page has our Hebrew notes when there are any.

Shams by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Shams: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Shams in English-speaking countries

Shams in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States202542#3,5772025 (42)
United Kingdom202520#1,5702025 (20)
England and Wales202517#1,7192025 (17)
Alberta20251#2,5382023 (2)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for Shams has every year and the other spellings.

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Shams

How do you write Shams in Hebrew?

Shams is written שמס in Hebrew (with vowel points: שַׁמְס). Hebrew is read right to left.

How many people in Israel are named Shams?

2,151 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name שמס: 1,909 women and 242 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Shams a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 88.7% of the people named שמס are women.

Is Shams used outside Israel?

The name Shams appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 42 girls were given it in 2025 (#3,577), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 20 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.