Gem Surname

5,602nd
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 100,976 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Myanmar
Highest density in:
Myanmar

Gem Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of James,' popularly Jim and Jem, or Gem; compare Jill and Gill. From the absence of pet forms of James it is probable that the 14th century only saw anything like a familiar use of this name.

Read More About This Surname

Gem Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Myanmar98,1491:52985
Turkey5681:137,01011,103
Egypt4581:200,73314,525
Bangladesh3601:442,65811,259
India3071:2,498,58479,775
Bhutan2821:2,185161
Papua New Guinea1771:46,0665,702
United States1211:2,995,528175,060
Hong Kong701:104,7931,905
Nigeria591:3,002,42093,371
Uganda491:796,72037,939
England461:1,211,26256,182
South Africa451:1,203,94968,637
Taiwan361:651,2434,752
Malaysia211:1,404,48759,312
Indonesia211:6,297,581275,398
Philippines201:5,061,911170,869
Qatar161:147,37516,023
United Arab Emirates111:832,93427,512
Kenya111:4,198,17341,178
Canada111:3,349,599180,238
Northern Ireland101:184,5049,341
Zimbabwe101:1,543,82478,460
Thailand91:7,848,705447,191
Saudi Arabia91:3,428,42432,607
Spain91:5,194,67182,436
Hungary81:1,227,03553,030
Australia61:4,499,284146,780
China51:273,464,31313,838
France51:13,284,544357,392
Brazil51:42,814,866547,158
Ethiopia41:24,386,56619,165
Sudan41:9,377,5498,207
Pakistan31:59,547,962132,569
Mexico31:41,375,40271,397
Italy31:20,385,563143,117
Vietnam31:30,882,0184,101
Poland21:19,004,374199,659
Cameroon21:10,384,534165,830
Tanzania21:26,470,806111,653
Zambia21:7,924,96145,994
Panama21:1,956,12915,285
Netherlands21:8,443,588136,641
Mauritania21:2,047,43230,537
Germany21:40,252,730481,636
Jamaica11:2,869,94713,896
Greece11:11,079,790145,225
Algeria11:38,631,551130,422
Haiti11:10,683,90724,607
Honduras11:8,816,4429,272
Wales11:3,094,53244,023
Argentina11:42,743,414282,706
Armenia11:2,930,18022,770
Iran11:76,782,524277,718
Bahamas11:391,7512,737
Tunisia11:610,62630,336
Iraq11:35,021,65431,813
Isle of Man11:85,8224,091
Belgium11:11,496,644167,539
New Zealand11:4,528,32355,372
Jersey11:99,2026,620
South Sudan11:11,415,0763,182
Ireland11:4,708,93929,543
Lebanon11:5,637,08332,436
Romania11:20,077,87089,414
Bulgaria11:6,978,90586,260
Colombia11:47,774,07244,230
Malta11:430,2723,380
Peru11:31,784,12364,452
Ghana11:27,020,69223,742
Chile11:17,616,47493,597
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England561:435,27425,262
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States311:1,619,95885,073

The alternate forms: Gém (206) are calculated separately.

Gem (7,217) may also be a first name.

Gem Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of James,' popularly Jim and Jem, or Gem; compare Jill and Gill. From the absence of pet forms of James it is probable that the 14th century only saw anything like a familiar use of this name. Indeed James was very rare — only a student of nomenclature knows how rare. James has bequeathed us few surnames. Its confusion with John through Jack has, no doubt, had much to do with this. The other leading Apostolic names have left rich legacies in our directories.

William fil. Gemme, Yorkshire, 1318. Writs of Parliament.

Richard fil. Gimme, Lancashire, 20 Edward III: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

William fil. Gimme, ibid.

Robertus Gemson, 1379: T. Yorkshire.

Hugo Gimme, 1379: ibid.

Ricardus Gemme, 1379: ibid.

Johannes Gemmys, 1379: ibid.

Agnes Jemme, 1379: ibid.

Thomas Gem, 1379: ibid.

As such we find the diminutives Gemmett and Jemmett:

1618. Andrew Weekes and Mary Gemmett: Marriage Lic. (London).

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

For Jem, a diminutive of James, q.v.

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

A U.S. name. Another form of Jem, nickname for James. From Jem we have, as a diminutive, Jemmett.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

Gem Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Gem Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname Gem (Hassaniya-Arabic: ﺟﻢ, Hindi: गेम, Marathi: गेम, Oriya: େଗମ, Tibetan: མགོནམ་) is more frequently found in Myanmar than any other country or territory. It can also appear in the variant forms: Gém. Click here for further potential spellings of Gem.

How Common Is The Last Name Gem? popularity and diffusion

This surname is the 5,602nd most widely held surname internationally, borne by around 1 in 72,171 people. This surname occurs predominantly in Asia, where 99 percent of Gem reside; 98 percent reside in South Asia and 97 percent reside in Burmo-Asia. Gem is also the 76,072nd most frequently held forename worldwide. It is borne by 7,217 people.

The last name Gem is most commonly held in Myanmar, where it is carried by 98,149 people, or 1 in 529. Excluding Myanmar Gem exists in 70 countries. It is also found in Turkey, where 1 percent are found and Egypt, where 0 percent are found.

Gem Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The occurrence of Gem has changed through the years. In The United States the share of the population with the surname increased 390 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in England it declined 18 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Gem Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those bearing the Gem surname is chiefly Christian (100%) in Kenya.

In The United States those holding the Gem surname are 14.34% more likely to be registered Republicans than the national average, with 61.11% being registered with the political party.

The amount Gem earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 67.3% less than the national average, earning R 77,712 per year and in United States they earn 3.11% more than the national average, earning $44,493 USD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Gém89206/
Gehm862,786/
Geme861,513/
Ngem86810/
Giem86622/
Guem86354/
Ghem86196/
Geym86148/
Geim86124/
Gemm8662/
Geem8633/
Gesm868/
Gemd865/
Zgem862/
Gemk862/
Gemn861/
Qgem861/
Sgem861/
Tgem861/
Xgem861/
Cgem861/
Gemt861/
Jgem861/
Em8052,149/
Gemme753,409/
Gueme751,883/
Gesme75301/
Giehm75160/
Gheem7582/
Geyim7554/
Geihm7540/
Kgeme7540/
Getme7522/
Geyom7515/
Guehm7511/
Gieme756/
Guesm755/
Gheam752/
Gheim752/
Gemdt752/
Ngeem752/
Gemne752/
Høgem752/
Geeem752/
Guemn751/
Geeme751/
Gettm751/
Ghehm751/
Guemh751/
Nghem751/
Gemnh751/
Geeym751/
Gueam751/
Gaaem751/
Ngemh751/
Gueem751/
Zgeem751/
Gemng751/
Gemøn751/
Jgetm751/
Khgem751/
Geimm750/
Sem6771,262/
Hem6754,781/
Eme6711,998/
Yem676,530/
Gen674,255/
Gim673,383/
Zem672,864/
Ehm672,370/
Cem672,368/
Emm671,652/
Eem671,585/
Jem671,426/
Esm671,217/
Gueime671,167/
Eum67838/
Iem67727/
Eim67465/
Eam67350/
Guemne67192/
Etm6775/
Emt6773/
Gne6743/
Emd6739/
Ejm6737/
Gjm6734/
Emh6726/
Eym6717/
Ngheim6714/
Ågheim6713/
Gym679/
Gajjem675/
Giemme674/
Gayyem674/
Guehem673/
Gemque672/
Hghiem671/
Gueyme671/
Gueetm671/
Giesme671/
Gesmhe671/
Gemová671/
Guetme671/
E'M671/
Ngheem671/
Geemnh671/
Gheemt671/
Gehemg670/
Gettmm670/

Gem Name Transliterations

TransliterationICU LatinPercentage of Incidence
Gem in the Hassaniya-Arabic language
ﺟﻢjm-
Gem in the Oriya language
େଗମegama-
Gem in the Marathi language
गेमgema-
Gem in the Hindi language
गेमgema92.59
गेंgem7.41
Gem in the Tibetan language
མགོནམ་gonam61.71
རྒྱལམོ།gyalmo16.44
རྒྱལམོ་gyalmo4.95
དགོནམ་gonam2.93
མགོནམ།gonam2.7
རྒྱལམ་gyalam1.8
གོནམ་gonam1.8
མགོན་gön1.35
རྒྱལམ།gyalam0.9
རྒྱལ་མོ།gyalmo0.9
རྒྱསམོ།gyasmo0.68
དགོམ་gom0.45
དགེནམ་genam0.45
མགོནམgonam0.45
རྒྱམ་gyam0.45
དགེམ་gem0.45
མགོནམ་ཛgonamdza0.23
རྒྱས་མོ།gyemo0.23
དགོནམ།gonam0.23
ཇེམ་jem0.23
གོནམ།gonam0.23
དགོན་པ་gönpa0.23
རྒྱལམོgyalmo0.23

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Gem
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis