Simon

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Boy · Hebrew and Greek

Simon

Say it: SY-mun

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Greek form used for Hebrew Shim'on (Simeon, 'he has heard'); Simōn was also an existing Greek name meaning 'snub-nosed'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Common in medieval England and France and widely used in Europe today.

Its wave through time

Timeless: in steady use for over a century

In the United States

05010018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1888per 100,000 babies of that sex
  • 63,127 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 2015, about 1 in 1,200 boys
  • 1,390 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
  2. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  3. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  4. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  5. The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
  6. The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
  7. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  8. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Early ChristianHebrewEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishMexicanCentral AmericanAndeanArgentineCaribbean

The family of the name

Other spellings: Symon

FrenchSimon
SpanishSimón
ItalianSimone
PortugueseSimão
GermanSimon
PolishSzymon
RussianSemyon
HungarianSimon

Famous bearers

  • Simon Peter, apostle
  • Simon de Montfort, 13th-century English baron
  • Simón Bolívar, South American liberator

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
  • English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • Royal and noble genealogies
  • Parish baptism registers
  • Colonial records of the Americas
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.