Explore the Family Name Samman

The meaning of Samman

1. Arabic (mainly Syria): occupational name from sammān ‘butter-merchant’, from samn ‘butter’. Bearers of this surname are both Muslims and Christians. Compare Samaan and Saman 1. 2. Americanized form of North German Sammann. 3. English: variant of Salmon.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Samman in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Samman saw an increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 71,808th in terms of prevalence but jumped to 58,481st by 2010, showing a significant 18.56% climb in rank. The number of individuals bearing the surname also rose from 253 in 2000 to 347 in 2010, marking a substantial 37.15% boost. Consequently, the proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 increased by 33.33%, moving from 0.09 to 0.12.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#71,808	#58,481	18.56%
Count	253	347	37.15%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.12	33.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Samman

The ethnicity of people with the surname Samman also evolved within this period, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. There was a slight growth among individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, up by 2.02%. Meanwhile, those identifying as two or more ethnicities dramatically decreased by 77.72%, dropping from 14.23% in 2000 to 3.17% in 2010. The largest group remains those who identify as White, growing from 77.08% to 89.63%, a 16.28% increase. However, both Hispanic and Black groups saw reductions of 10.96% and 36.08% respectively. The percentage of those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native remained unchanged at 0%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	77.08%	89.63%	16.28%
Two or More Races	14.23%	3.17%	-77.72%
Hispanic	3.56%	3.17%	-10.96%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.98%	2.02%	2.02%
Black	3.16%	2.02%	-36.08%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%