Amadou
Masculine name of West African origin meaning "child of grace".
Name Census estimates that about 1,165 living Americans carry the first name Amadou. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Amadou today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amadou births was 2008 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amadou. 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 Amadou with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Amadou is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 294,210 Americans
Peak year
2008
59 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,869
Tracked since 1992
Census
Amadou in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,270 people with the first name Amadou, which placed it at #6,903 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
#6,903
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,270 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
96.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amadou
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amadou is Black at 96.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and White (0.9%). 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 Amadou 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 Amadou at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American96.6% · 2,192
- Two or more races1.7% · 39
- White0.9% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Amadou: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amadou from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 442 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Amadou remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amadou 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 Amadou during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amadous live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Ohio, Maryland recorded the most babies named Amadou, while Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 102 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amadou
The name Amadou originated from the West African Pulaar language, spoken primarily in Senegal, Mauritania, and parts of neighboring countries. It is derived from the Arabic word "Amat," meaning "servant," combined with the name of Allah, the supreme deity in Islam. The name can be translated as "servant of God" or "servant of Allah."
Amadou has been a popular name among the Fulani people, an ethnic group widely dispersed across West Africa, for centuries. It gained widespread recognition during the medieval era when several prominent Islamic scholars and rulers bore this name. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Amadou dates back to the 13th century, when Amadou Beleya, a renowned Fulani ruler, established the Denianke Kingdom in present-day Mali.
In the 14th century, Amadou Hampate Ba, a Malian writer and philosopher, was born. He played a crucial role in preserving the oral traditions and cultural heritage of the Fulani people through his literary works. Another notable figure was Amadou Bamba (1853-1927), the founder of the Mouride Islamic brotherhood in Senegal, who was instrumental in promoting peaceful resistance against French colonial rule.
The name Amadou also appears in various religious texts and historical records across West Africa. In the 17th century, Amadou Samba, a Senegambian Muslim scholar and diplomat, was sent as an ambassador to France by the Jolof Empire. His writings and accounts provided valuable insights into the political and cultural dynamics of the region during that period.
Throughout history, several other figures have borne the name Amadou. Amadou Hampate Ba (1900-1991), a Malian writer and ethnologist, was a prominent figure in preserving the oral traditions of the Fulani people. Amadou Mahtar M'Bow (1921-2013), a Senegalese diplomat and educator, served as the Director-General of UNESCO from 1974 to 1987.
Another notable person with the name Amadou was Amadou Samba Mboup (1920-2012), a Senegalese politician and diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of Senegal from 1983 to 1988. Additionally, Amadou Ndiaye (1926-1989) was a Senegalese sculptor and painter known for his contributions to the Negritude movement, which celebrated African culture and identity.
People
Amadou + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amadou 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
Amadou: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amadou?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,165 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amadou 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 294,210 US residents.
Is Amadou a common name?
We classify Amadou as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,177 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amadou most popular?
The single biggest year for Amadou was 2008, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amadou is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amadou in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,270 people with the name Amadou, or 0.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,903 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 Amadou 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 Amadou?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amadou appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,275 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Amadou?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amadou is Black at 96.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and White (0.9%). 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 Amadou most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Amadou in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.6% (2,192 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 Amadou in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amadou a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amadou 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 Amadou still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amadou 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 Amadou 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 people are called Amadou?
You can see how many people share the name Amadou on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.