Amasa
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "burden-bearer" or "burden carrier".
Name Census estimates that about 1 living Americans carry the first name Amasa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Amasa today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amasa births was 1918 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amasa. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Amasa is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Amasas were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Amasa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
1
~ 1 in 342,754,338 Americans
Peak year
1918
8 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1925 SSA rank
#4,211
Tracked since 1886
Census
Amasa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 102 people with the first name Amasa, which placed it at #53,122 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
#53,122
National first-name rank
People counted
102
102 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amasa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amasa is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.6%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Amasa 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 Amasa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 67
- Black or African American20.6% · 21
- Two or more races6.9% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 1
Popularity
Amasa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amasa from the 1880s through to the 1920s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 15 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Amasa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amasa 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 Amasa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amasa
The given name Amasa has its linguistic origins in Hebrew. Derived from the Hebrew word 'amats', it means 'burden' or 'load'. The name can be traced back to ancient Israel and the biblical period, approximately between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Amasa is found in the Old Testament's Second Book of Samuel. Amasa, the son of Abigail and nephew of David, was a military commander who initially served under the rebel forces of Absalom before switching allegiance to David's cause. The biblical narrative depicts Amasa as a courageous warrior, but he ultimately met a tragic end at the hands of Joab, another of David's generals.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Amasa. In the late 18th century, Amasa Learned (1750-1825) was an American politician and jurist who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut. Amasa Walker (1799-1875), an American economist and writer, is remembered for his influential works on political economy and finance.
During the American Civil War, Amasa Cobb (1823-1905) was a Union Army officer who fought in several major battles, including Gettysburg and the Siege of Petersburg. In the realm of religion, Amasa Lyman (1813-1877) was a prominent figure in the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Another notable bearer of the name was Amasa Mason Lyman (1824-1897), a nephew of Amasa Lyman and a member of the Council of Fifty in the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Despite its relative rarity, the name Amasa has left its mark on various spheres of human endeavor, from military and politics to religion and literature.
People
Amasa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amasa 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
Amasa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amasa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amasa 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 342,754,338 US residents.
Is Amasa a common name?
We classify Amasa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 3.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amasa most popular?
The single biggest year for Amasa was 1918, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amasa is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amasa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 102 people with the name Amasa, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #53,122 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 Amasa 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 Amasa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Amasa on both sides of the split. Of the 111 people counted with this name, 72 were male (64.9%) and 39 were female (35.1%). 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 Amasa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amasa is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.6%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Amasa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Amasa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (67 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 Amasa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amasa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amasa 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 Amasa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amasa 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 Amasa 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 have Amasa as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Amasa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.