Skip to content
Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

ShimonIn Hebrew: שמעון · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: שִׁמְעוֹןRomanization: shim'ón

Shimon (Hebrew: שמעון) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 36,498 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 801 boys and ranked #22. Its peak year was 2023, with 842 babies.

People in Israel
36,498
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
801
rank #22
Peak year
2023
842 babies
USA, 2025
241
rank #960

Writing and saying Shimon

In Hebrew letters the name is שמעון, read right to left. Shimon is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "shim'ón" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • a male given name, Shimon, equivalent to English Simon
  • Simeon, Simon (any of several Biblical figures).
  • Simeon, Simon (any of several Biblical figures).
Traditionally derived from שָׁמַע (shamá', “to hear, listen”). Alternatively, Hitzig, W. R. Smith, Stade, and Kerber compare it to Arabic سِمع (“the offspring of the hyena and the female wolf”); as supports, Smith points to Arabic tribal names Simˤ "a subdivision of the defenders (the Medinites)" and Samˤān "a subdivision of Tamim".

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Shimon by year: Israel and abroad

How many boys 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).

Shimon: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Shimon in English-speaking countries

Shimon in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States2025241#9602024 (255)
United Kingdom202517#1,6142024 (30)
England and Wales202517#1,5382024 (30)
Quebec202515#3122025 (15)

Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Shimon has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

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

Questions about Shimon

How do you write Shimon in Hebrew?

Shimon is written שמעון in Hebrew (with vowel points: שִׁמְעוֹן). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "shim'ón".

How many people in Israel are named Shimon?

36,498 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name שמעון: 6 women and 36,492 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 Shimon a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named שמעון are men.

What does the name Shimon mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "a male given name, Shimon, equivalent to English Simon" Etymology: Traditionally derived from שָׁמַע (shamá', “to hear, listen”). Alternatively, Hitzig, W. R. Smith, Stade, and Kerber compare it to Arabic سِمع (“the offspring of the hyena and the female wolf”); as supports, Smith points to Arabic tribal names Simˤ "a subdivision of the defenders (the Medinites)" and Samˤān "a subdivision of Tamim".

Is Shimon used outside Israel?

The name Shimon appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 241 boys were given it in 2025 (#960), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 17 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.