Shem is the first son of Noah named in Genesis’s Ark narrative.
Genesis 5:32 lists Noah’s sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Genesis 6:10 repeats that order when describing Noah’s family before the Flood. The three men enter the Ark with Noah, Noah’s wife, and their wives according to Genesis 7:13.
The order of names is not always treated as a statement about age. Genesis 9:24 calls Ham Noah’s youngest son, while other passages and traditions discuss the brothers’ ages differently. The narrative later gives Shem special genealogical importance: Genesis traces a line from Shem through Arpachshad toward Abraham.
Shem is also the traditional ancestor associated with the term “Semitic,” although modern linguistic classification is more precise than that broad historical label. In the Ark story itself, the key fact is simply that Genesis names Shem first.