Shem Tov Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady
ShmuelIn Hebrew: שמואל · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel
With vowel points: שְׁמוּאֵלRomanization: sh'mu'él, šəmūʾḗl
Shmuel (Hebrew: שמואל) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 37,645 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 774 boys and ranked #24. Its peak year was 2018, with 906 babies.
- People in Israel
- 37,645
- born 1949–2024
- Babies in 2024
- 774
- rank #24
- Peak year
- 2018
- 906 babies
- USA, 2025
- 256
- rank #920
Writing and saying Shmuel
In Hebrew letters the name is שמואל, read right to left. Shmuel 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 "sh'mu'él, šəmūʾḗl" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).
Meaning and origin
- Samuel (the primary author and central character of the first book of Samuel)
- Samuel (one of two books of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh)
- a male given name, equivalent to English Samuel
Compound of שֵׁם (šēm, “name”) and אֵל (ʾēl, “god”). The first part is often said to be שָׁמַע (šāmáʿ, “to hear, to listen”) since elistic names tend to derive from exhortations from verbs, however this is unlikely since the third radical ע (ʿ) of the verb is absent. Other interpretations posit derivation from roots meaning “God” as in Heaven or the upper sky (see שָׁמַיִם (šāmáyim)) and “high” (see עלי…
Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.
Shmuel 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).
per 10,000 babies of the same sex
Shmuel in English-speaking countries
| Country / region | Year | Babies | Rank | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2025 | 256 | #920 | 2025 (256) |
| United Kingdom | 2025 | 19 | #1,475 | 2015 (22) |
| England and Wales | 2025 | 19 | #1,407 | 2015 (22) |
| Quebec | 2025 | 5 | #717 | 2012 (7) |
Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Shmuel has every year and the other spellings.
Related Israeli names
Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.
Questions about Shmuel
How do you write Shmuel in Hebrew?
Shmuel is written שמואל in Hebrew (with vowel points: שְׁמוּאֵל). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "sh'mu'él, šəmūʾḗl".
How many people in Israel are named Shmuel?
37,645 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name שמואל: 5 women and 37,640 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 Shmuel a boy's or a girl's name?
In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named שמואל are men.
What does the name Shmuel mean?
English Wiktionary describes it as: "Samuel (the primary author and central character of the first book of Samuel)" Etymology: Compound of שֵׁם (šēm, “name”) and אֵל (ʾēl, “god”). The first part is often said to be שָׁמַע (šāmáʿ, “to hear, to listen”) since elistic names tend to derive from exhortations from verbs, however this is unlikely since the third radical ע (ʿ) of the verb is absent. Other interpretations posit derivation from roots meaning “God” as in Heaven or the upper sky (see שָׁמַיִם (šāmáyim)) and “high” (see עלי…
Is Shmuel used outside Israel?
The name Shmuel appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 256 boys were given it in 2025 (#920), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 19 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
- United States: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA)
Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications - National Data
Years 1880–2025 · updated 2026-04-13 · licence: Public domain (U.S. Government work) · names given to fewer than 5 babies a year are not published - England and Wales: Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996
Years 1996–2025 · updated 2026-07 · licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 · names given to fewer than 3 babies a year are not published - Quebec: Retraite Québec
Banque de prénoms (filles, garçons)
Years 1980–2025 · updated 2026-06-18 · licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) · names given to fewer than 5 babies a year are not published
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.