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Name Lineage

    The surname Sham

    An Arabic surname, carried by 673 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex S500

    Sham: #33,810 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Sham #33,810, 673 people Sham: #33,810 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Sham #33,810, 673 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Sham is more common than 79.2% of them.

    Origin

    Arabic origin

    It could be from Arabic شَام (šām, literally “Syria”), from which it spread also to Gujarat. Perhaps also an altered spelling of French Cham.

    One of 179 Arabic surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 673 people named Sham in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 458,760 Americans. That is up 8.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 622.

    #33,810
    rank among US surnames
    673
    people in 2010
    0.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +8.2%
    change since 2000 (was #34,459)

    Who is named Sham

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    69% of people named Sham identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 21% as white (not Hispanic) and 6.2% as two or more races.

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 69%
    • White (not Hispanic) 21%
    • Two or more races 6.2%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 2.1%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Hispanic, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Sham

    Sham has the Soundex code S500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S500.

    Other Arabic surnames

    All 179 Arabic surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Sham come from?
    It could be from Arabic شَام (šām, literally “Syria”), from which it spread also to Gujarat. Perhaps also an altered spelling of French Cham.
    How common is the surname Sham?
    673 people in the United States had the surname Sham in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 458,760 Americans. It ranked 33,810th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Sham?
    In the 2010 Census, 69% of people named Sham identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 21% as white (not Hispanic).
    Is the surname Sham getting more or less common?
    More common. 622 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 673 in 2010, up 8.2%.