Surname Origin
First Name Entry

Shulamit

A Hebrew feminine given name, written שׁוּלַמִּית, whose biblical source permits geographic, wholeness-and-peace, and Solomonic interpretations rather than one certain literal meaning.

Last updated: 2026-08-20

Shulamit is a Hebrew feminine given name written שׁוּלַמִּית with vowel points and שולמית without them. In modern Hebrew it is pronounced approximately shoo-lah-MEET, with stress on the final syllable.

The name was drawn from הַשּׁוּלַמִּית (ha-Shulammít), the form used to address the woman in the Song of Songs. Its original derivation is genuinely disputed. “Peaceful” is a familiar and meaningful interpretation because the form can be connected with the Hebrew ש־ל־ם word family of completeness, well-being, and peace, but it should not be presented as the only certain translation. “Woman of Shulem or Shunem,” “the perfect one,” and a feminine counterpart or wordplay on Solomon have all received scholarly support.

The Biblical Source

The expression occurs twice in one line of the Hebrew Bible: Song of Songs 7:1 in Jewish and Hebrew numbering, corresponding to 6:13 in most English Bibles. The speakers call for the woman to turn back so that they may look at her, and then ask why anyone would gaze at the Shulammite. (Hebrew text and translations)

That limited evidence matters. The biblical text does not introduce “Shulamit” through a naming formula, and it does not use the designation elsewhere. It has the Hebrew article ha- and functions as a direct form of address in the verse. The modern given name therefore developed from a biblical title or designation whose precise sense had already become opaque; it is not simply the unchanged personal name of a securely identified historical woman. The NET translators’ notes describe the word as enigmatic and compare translations including “Shulammite maiden,” “maid of Shulem,” and “Perfect One.” (NET Bible, Song of Songs 6:13 notes)

Why the Meaning Is Debated

Three interpretations account for most of the meanings readers encounter:

  • A woman from Shulem or Shunem. The ending ־ית (-it) can form a feminine geographic or group adjective. Brown, Driver, and Briggs accordingly treats the biblical word as a feminine gentilic and compares it with Shunammite, a woman from Shunem; the ancient place was also associated with the form Sulem. This explains translations such as “maid of Shulem.” The further claim that the woman must be Abishag the Shunammite is an interpretation, however, not an identification made by the Song itself. (Brown–Driver–Briggs, entry שׁוּלַמִּית)
  • The complete, perfect, or peaceful one. Another analysis connects the form with Hebrew שׁלם, a root whose semantic field includes being whole, complete, sound, or at peace. This supports “perfect one” or “peaceful one,” but the alternatives are not exact synonyms. A modern name dictionary that reduces all of them to the single gloss “peace” hides the uncertainty in the biblical form.
  • A feminine counterpart to Solomon. Because Shulammite resembles Hebrew Shelomoh (Solomon), some interpreters understand a feminine title such as “Solomoness,” or deliberate wordplay pairing the woman with Solomon. This reading fits the literary setting, but it is not the ordinary expected form of a feminine name made from Solomon, so it remains a proposal rather than a settled derivation.

The responsible short answer is therefore: Shulamit is a Hebrew feminine name from the Shulammite designation in the Song of Songs, traditionally associated with peace or completeness, but of uncertain original derivation.

Spelling, Pronunciation, and Recorded Forms

The Library of Congress romanization table renders Hebrew שׁ as sh, וּ as u, and ת as t, which gives the transparent modern form Shulamit. The final -th in Shulamith belongs to older biblical and European spelling traditions; it does not represent a different final consonant in modern Israeli Hebrew. (Library of Congress romanization table)

Forms a reader may encounter include:

  • Shulamit, a direct modern Hebrew romanization;
  • Shulamith, an established English and European form;
  • Shulamis, a Yiddish form, familiar from Avrom Goldfaden’s play Shulamis, composed around 1880 for East European Jewish audiences;
  • Sulamith and Schulammit, established German forms;
  • Shulamite and Shulammite, English renderings of the biblical designation rather than spellings that should automatically replace a modern bearer’s recorded name.

Goldfaden’s Shulamis is more than a spelling curiosity: its documented use around 1880 shows a Yiddish form of the name or title circulating in modern East European Jewish culture before the establishment of the State of Israel. (Yair Lipshitz, “Goldfaden’s Shulamis and the Modern Performance of Mishnaic Ritual”) German Sulamith is likewise catalogued by Duden as a biblical feminine proper name, with Schulammit as a related form. (Duden, “Sulamith”)

These forms are historically related, but they are not interchangeable in a transcript. A civil certificate reading Shulamith and a Hebrew record reading שולמית may concern the same person only when dates, relatives, places, or other evidence also agree.

Shulamit Is Not the Same Name as Shlomit

Shlomit is often mistaken for a shortened pronunciation or spelling variant of Shulamit. In pointed Hebrew the difference is clear:

  • Shulamit: שׁוּלַמִּית;
  • Shlomit or Shelomith: שְׁלֹמִית.

The vav also occupies a different position in the ordinary unpointed spellings: שולמית versus שלומית. Shelomith is independently attested as the name of several male and female people in the Hebrew Bible, including the woman named in Leviticus 24:11 and a daughter of Zerubbabel in 1 Chronicles 3:19. The United Bible Societies’ dictionary therefore catalogues it as its own personal-name entry. (Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, שְׁלֹמִית)

The two names belong to the same broad Hebrew sound-and-meaning family and may be associated with peace, but resemblance does not make them variant spellings of one name.

Documented Use in Israel

Shulamit was an established personal name in Israel by the later twentieth century. A Ministry of the Interior population-register analysis, using records updated to June 1979, counted 13,005 occurrences of Shulamit and placed it fiftieth among all personal names in that registry snapshot. That figure describes living residents in a historical database, not babies born in one year and not present-day popularity. (Nissim Eliassaf, “Names’ Survey in the Population Administration: State of Israel”)

An independent study begun in 1980 sampled English-language Israeli telephone directories. It found 111 Shulamit or Shulamith entries in its female sample and ranked the grouped form eighteenth among the women’s names counted. The sample excluded people without suitable directory listings and grouped spelling variants, so it is evidence of substantial use at that time rather than a complete national census. It also records the final-stressed pronunciation shoo-lah-MEET. (Edwin D. Lawson, “Most Common Jewish First Names in Israel”)

These records demonstrate modern use; they do not resolve the ancient word’s etymology or connect modern bearers genealogically to the woman in the Song of Songs.

Given Name, Surname, and Genealogy

Shulamit is documented primarily as a feminine personal name. If it appears in a surname field, the placement may reflect reversed name order, database structure, or an individually adopted family name; hereditary surname use must be demonstrated for that particular family.

Neither the biblical association nor the meaning “peaceful” establishes descent from Solomon, Abishag, the inhabitants of Shunem, or any other ancient person or community. Etymology explains how a name can be interpreted; genealogy requires a documented chain between specific people.

References