How common is the surname Shim?

4,958 people in the United States had the surname Shim in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 62,272 Americans. It ranked 6,801st of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Shim?

Serena Shim, American journalist, followed by Andrew Shim.

Where is the surname Shim most common?

Wikidata records people named Shim in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Shim getting more or less common?

More common. 4,048 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,958 in 2010, up 23%.

The surname Shim

A Korean surname, carried by 4,958 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex S500

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shim is more common than 95.8% of them.

Origin

Korean origin

Borrowed from Korean 심(沈) (Sim).

One of 42 Korean surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,958 people named Shim in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 62,272 Americans. That is up 23% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,048.

#6,801

rank among US surnames

4,958

people in 2010

1.7

per 100,000 Americans

+22.5%

change since 2000 (was #7,574)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#6,796	Steelman	4,964	62,197
#6,798	Silvas	4,963	62,209
#6,799	Hostetter	4,960	62,247
#6,801	Shim	4,958	62,272
#6,805	Ballenger	4,956	62,297

Who is named Shim

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

87% of people named Shim identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 4.4% as two or more races and 4.1% as Black (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 87%
Two or more races 4.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 4.1%
White (not Hispanic) 3.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

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

Famous Shims

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Serena Shim
American journalist, 1984–2014
Andrew Shim
British actor, born 1983

Notable Shims come mostly from the United States (1) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Shim

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

Other Korean surnames

All 42 Korean surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Shim come from?: Borrowed from Korean 심(沈) (Sim).
How common is the surname Shim?: 4,958 people in the United States had the surname Shim in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 62,272 Americans. It ranked 6,801st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shim?: In the 2010 Census, 87% of people named Shim identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 4.4% as two or more races.
Who is the most famous person named Shim?: Serena Shim, American journalist, followed by Andrew Shim.
Where is the surname Shim most common?: Wikidata records people named Shim in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Is the surname Shim getting more or less common?: More common. 4,048 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,958 in 2010, up 23%.
What are other spellings of Shim?: Sim.