Amar
An Indian masculine name meaning "immortal" or "eternal".
Name Census estimates that about 5,093 living Americans carry the first name Amar. It is a predominantly male name (93.7% of registrations). The average person named Amar today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amar births was 2023 (195 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amar. 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 Amar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.1K
~ 1 in 67,299 Americans
Peak year
2023
195 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,239
Tracked since 1967
Census
Amar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,052 people with the first name Amar, which placed it at #3,436 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
#3,436
National first-name rank
People counted
6.1K
6,052 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
38.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 38.5%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Black (23.5%). 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 Amar 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 Amar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander38.5% · 2,329
- White27.8% · 1,683
- Black or African American23.5% · 1,420
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 324
- Two or more races4.5% · 273
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Amar
Amar leans heavily male at 93.7% of total registrations, but 328 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Amar as a male name
- Ranked #1,239 in 2024
- 160 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (177 births)
Amar as a female name
- Ranked #6,928 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amar leans strongly male. 5,592 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 453 female bearers (7.5%).
Popularity
Amar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amar from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,608 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Amar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amar 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 Amar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Amar, while Wisconsin, Mississippi, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 110 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amar
The name Amar has its origins in the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan tongue that dates back to the 2nd millennium BC and was widely used in the Indian subcontinent. Amar is derived from the Sanskrit word "amara," which means "immortal" or "eternal." It is a name steeped in the rich cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent and has been used for centuries.
One of the earliest known references to the name Amar can be found in Hindu mythology, where it is mentioned in the sacred texts known as the Puranas. In these ancient scriptures, Amar is associated with the concept of immortality and is often used to describe deities or other celestial beings. The name also appears in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, which dates back to around the 8th century BC.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Amar. One of the earliest recorded examples is Amar Singh Rathore, a 16th-century Rajput warrior and nobleman from the Indian state of Rajasthan. He was known for his bravery and military exploits during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Another prominent figure with the name Amar was Amar Singh Thapa, a Nepalese military commander who lived from 1776 to 1816. He played a crucial role in the unification of Nepal and is celebrated as a national hero for his contributions to the country's independence and territorial integrity.
In the realm of literature, Amar Mitra was a renowned Bengali poet and writer who lived from 1903 to 1937. He was a leading figure in the Bengali literary renaissance and is best known for his collection of poems titled "Nirjharini," which explored themes of love, nature, and spirituality.
Another notable figure with the name Amar was Amar Singh Choudhary, an Indian freedom fighter and activist who lived from 1916 to 1985. He was a prominent member of the Indian National Congress and played an active role in the struggle for India's independence from British rule.
More recently, Amar Bhushan Nath was an Indian classical vocalist and composer who lived from 1938 to 2002. He was renowned for his mastery of the Hindustani classical music tradition and was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, two of India's highest civilian honors, for his contributions to the field of music.
People
Amar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amar 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
Amar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,093 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amar 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 67,299 US residents.
Is Amar a common name?
We classify Amar as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,184 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amar most popular?
The single biggest year for Amar was 2023, when 195 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amar is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,052 people with the name Amar, or 2.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,436 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 Amar 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 Amar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amar leans strongly male. 5,592 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 453 female bearers (7.5%). 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 Amar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 38.5%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Black (23.5%). 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 Amar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Amar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.5% (2,329 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 Amar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amar a male name?
Yes, 93.7% of people registered as Amar 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 Amar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amar 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 Amar 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 Amar?
You can see how many people share the name Amar on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.