53%RatingSave Gender Masculine Usage Biblical, Biblical Hebrew Scripts שֵׁם(Ancient Hebrew) Pronounced Pron. SHEHM(English) [key·IPA] Meaning & History Means "name" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Shem is one of Noah's three sons (along with Japheth and Ham) and the ancestor of the Semitic peoples. Related NamesFamily Tree·Details Other Languages & CulturesSem(Biblical Greek) Sem(Biblical Latin) Sem(Dutch) People think this name isRate·Details classic mature informal natural wholesome strong rough strange simple serious Categories biblical patriarchs, isograms, James Joyce characters, Tamora Pierce characters, word names