Abir
A gender-neutral Arabic name meaning "fragrant", "perfumed" or "blooming".
Name Census estimates that about 742 living Americans carry the first name Abir. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Abir today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abir births was 2021 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abir. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Abir with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
742
~ 1 in 461,933 Americans
Peak year
2021
66 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,382
Tracked since 1987
Census
Abir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,517 people with the first name Abir, which placed it at #9,249 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,249
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,517 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abir is White at 50.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (41.8%) and Black (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Abir described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Abir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.4% · 764
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.8% · 634
- Black or African American2.8% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 41
- Two or more races2.3% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Abir
Abir leans heavily male at 87.1% of total registrations, but 97 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Abir as a male name
- Ranked #3,382 in 2024
- 34 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (66 births)
Abir as a female name
- Ranked #16,246 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1990 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Abir on both sides of the split. Of the 1,514 people counted with this name, 659 were male (43.5%) and 855 were female (56.5%).
Popularity
Abir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abir from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 301 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abir by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Abir, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abir
The name Abir is derived from the Arabic language and has its origins in the Middle East. It is believed to have emerged as a personal name during the 7th century CE, around the time of the rise of Islam.
In Arabic, the word "abir" means "fragrant" or "aromatic." It is sometimes associated with the spice trade that flourished in the region during ancient times. The name may have been given to children with the hope that they would grow up to have a pleasant and appealing personality, akin to the fragrance of aromatic spices.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abir can be found in the writings of the famous Arab poet and philosopher, Abu Nuwas, who lived in the 8th century CE. He composed a poem that mentioned a woman named Abir, suggesting that the name was already in use during that period.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Abir. One such individual was Abir al-Kalbi, a renowned Arab genealogist and scholar who lived in the 9th century CE. He authored several books on the lineages and histories of Arab tribes, contributing significantly to the preservation of Arabian cultural heritage.
Another prominent figure with the name Abir was Abir ibn Abd al-Rahim, a Moroccan Sufi scholar and poet who lived in the 12th century CE. He was known for his mystical poems and writings that explored the spiritual realm and the divine essence.
In the 13th century, Abir al-Muqaddasī was a renowned Arab traveler and geographer who wrote extensively about his journeys across the Islamic world. His work, "The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions," provided valuable insights into the geography, cultures, and customs of the lands he visited.
Abir ibn Fadl was a prominent Arab physician and philosopher who lived in the 14th century CE. He made significant contributions to the field of medicine and wrote several treatises on various medical topics, including a comprehensive work on ophthalmology.
More recently, Abir Mukherjee is a British author and journalist of Indian descent, known for her historical crime fiction novels set in colonial India. Her debut novel, "A Rising Man," published in 2016, was widely acclaimed and won several literary awards.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Abir throughout history, showcasing its rich cultural heritage and the diverse fields in which it has been represented.
People
Abir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abir as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 742 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abir going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 461,933 US residents.
Is Abir a common name?
We classify Abir as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 750 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abir most popular?
The single biggest year for Abir was 2021, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abir is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,517 people with the name Abir, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,249 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Abir in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Abir?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Abir on both sides of the split. Of the 1,514 people counted with this name, 659 were male (43.5%) and 855 were female (56.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Abir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abir is White at 50.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (41.8%) and Black (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Abir most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.4% (764 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Abir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abir a male name?
Yes, 87.1% of people registered as Abir in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Abir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abir in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Abir can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Abir?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.