Amato
Derived from the Italian word "amato" meaning "beloved" or "loved".
Name Census estimates that about 15 living Americans carry the first name Amato. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Amato today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amato births was 1922 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amato. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Amato. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
15
~ 1 in 22,850,289 Americans
Peak year
1922
11 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,865
Tracked since 1914
Census
Amato in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163 people with the first name Amato, which placed it at #43,340 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
#43,340
National first-name rank
People counted
163
163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amato
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amato is White at 77.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.8%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Amato 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 Amato at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.3% · 126
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 16
- Black or African American5.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 9
- Two or more races1.8% · 3
Popularity
Amato: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amato from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 36 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amato 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 Amato during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amatos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Amato
The given name Amato has its origins in the Italian language. It is derived from the Latin word "amatus," which means "beloved" or "loved." This name likely emerged during the Renaissance period in Italy, when the use of classical Latin names and their derivatives became popular among the educated and elite classes.
In the Middle Ages, the name Amato was not widely used, but it can be found in some historical records from Italy, particularly in regions like Tuscany and Umbria. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is from the 13th century, when an Italian philosopher and theologian named Amato di Montecassino lived and worked.
The name Amato gained more prominence during the Renaissance, as Italian humanists and scholars embraced classical Latin culture and literature. One notable figure from this period was Amato Lusitano, a Portuguese physician and philosopher born in 1511. He made significant contributions to the field of medicine and wrote extensively on various topics.
In the 17th century, an Italian composer and musician named Amato Petri gained recognition for his sacred compositions and work as a music theorist. He was born in Naples around 1599 and is considered an important figure in the early Baroque era of music.
Another prominent individual with the name Amato was Amato Vezzio, an Italian painter and engraver who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was known for his religious paintings and his work as an engraver, producing numerous prints and illustrations.
In more recent times, one of the most famous individuals with the name Amato was Giuliano Amato, an Italian politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 1992 to 1993. He was born in 1938 and has had a long and influential career in Italian politics and academia.
While the name Amato has its roots in Italian culture, it has been adopted and used in various other languages and cultures over time, particularly in regions with strong Italian influence or immigration. However, its origins can be traced back to the Latin word "amatus" and its association with the concept of being beloved or loved.
People
Amato + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amato 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
Amato: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amato?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amato 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 22,850,289 US residents.
Is Amato a common name?
We classify Amato as "Very Rare". It ranks above 35.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amato most popular?
The single biggest year for Amato was 1922, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amato is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amato in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163 people with the name Amato, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,340 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 Amato 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 Amato?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amato appears almost entirely male. Of the 155 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Amato?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amato is White at 77.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.8%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Amato most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Amato in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.3% (126 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 Amato in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amato a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amato 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 Amato still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amato 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 Amato 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 common is the name Amato?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.