Amari
Latin origin, meaning immortal or everlasting.
Name Census estimates that about 49,956 living Americans carry the first name Amari. It sits at #172 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Amari today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amari births was 2023 (3,422 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amari. 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 Amari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Amari sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Amari is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
50K
~ 1 in 6,861 Americans
Peak year
2023
3,422 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#172
Tracked since 1974
Census
Amari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,684 people with the first name Amari, which placed it at #1,287 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
#1,287
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
28,684 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amari is Black at 71.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.5%) and Two or More Races (11.5%). 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 Amari 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 Amari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.4% · 20,483
- Hispanic or Latino11.5% · 3,308
- Two or more races11.5% · 3,289
- White4.2% · 1,211
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 208
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 185
Gender
Gender distribution for Amari
Amari is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 50,446 total registrations, 29,973 (59.4%) were male and 20,473 (40.6%) were female.
Amari as a male name
- Ranked #172 in 2024
- 2,158 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (2,419 births)
Amari as a female name
- Ranked #296 in 2024
- 1,065 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,065 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Amari on both sides of the split. Of the 28,688 people counted with this name, 15,821 were male (55.1%) and 12,867 were female (44.9%).
Popularity
Amari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amari from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 19,066 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amari 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 Amari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amaris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Amari, while North Dakota, Montana, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,008 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amari
The name Amari has its origins in the Yoruba language, spoken by the Yoruba people of West Africa, primarily in present-day Nigeria. Amari is derived from the Yoruba word "amure," which means "grace" or "virtue." The name has been in use for centuries, though its precise origin and initial usage are difficult to pinpoint due to the oral tradition of the Yoruba culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Ifa corpus, a collection of Yoruba spiritual and literary texts. Amari is mentioned as a name bestowed upon a child born under certain auspicious circumstances, reflecting the name's positive connotations of grace and blessings.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Amari. One of the earliest recorded figures was Amari Oba, a Yoruba ruler who reigned in the 16th century in the region now known as Benin City, Nigeria. He was renowned for his wisdom and fair governance.
In the 18th century, Amari Tukano was a celebrated Yoruba trader and diplomat who played a crucial role in facilitating trade relationships between the Yoruba kingdoms and European merchants along the West African coast.
During the 19th century, Amari Dada was a prominent Yoruba scholar and linguist who made significant contributions to the preservation and documentation of the Yoruba language and cultural traditions.
In the realm of art and literature, Amari Musa was a renowned Yoruba poet and playwright of the 20th century, recognized for his poignant works that explored themes of identity, tradition, and the human condition.
More recently, Amari Cooper, born in 1994, is an American football wide receiver who has played for teams like the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League (NFL).
While the name Amari has its roots in the Yoruba culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and cultures, transcending its origins and carrying with it the positive connotations of grace and virtue.
People
Amari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amari 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
Amari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49,956 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amari 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 6,861 US residents.
Is Amari a common name?
We classify Amari as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50,446 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amari most popular?
The single biggest year for Amari was 2023, when 3,422 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amari is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,684 people with the name Amari, or 9.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,287 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 Amari 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 Amari?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Amari on both sides of the split. Of the 28,688 people counted with this name, 15,821 were male (55.1%) and 12,867 were female (44.9%). 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 Amari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amari is Black at 71.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.5%) and Two or More Races (11.5%). 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 Amari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Amari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.4% (20,483 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 Amari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amari a male name?
Yes, 59.4% of people registered as Amari 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 Amari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amari 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 Amari 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 named Amari?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.