Ambre
French feminine name derived from the French word for amber.
Name Census estimates that about 641 living Americans carry the first name Ambre. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ambre today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ambre births was 1987 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ambre. 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 Ambre with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
641
~ 1 in 534,718 Americans
Peak year
1987
33 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,320
Tracked since 1969
Census
Ambre in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 609 people with the first name Ambre, which placed it at #17,887 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
#17,887
National first-name rank
People counted
609
609 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ambre
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ambre is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.4%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Ambre 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 Ambre at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.3% · 422
- Black or African American18.4% · 112
- Two or more races5.9% · 36
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
Popularity
Ambre: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ambre from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 287 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ambre 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 Ambre during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ambres live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ambre
The name Ambre is derived from the French word "ambre," meaning amber, a fossilized tree resin prized for its beauty and use in jewelry and ornaments. The name's origins can be traced back to ancient times, as amber was widely traded and valued across the Mediterranean region and beyond.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ambre gained popularity in France and neighboring areas, possibly due to the influence of the amber trade routes that connected Europe to the Baltic regions. It may have been initially used as a descriptive name for those with amber-colored hair or eyes, or as a poetic reference to the gem's warm, golden hues.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ambre can be found in the 12th-century French epic poem, "The Song of Roland." Here, it is mentioned as the name of a character, though the context suggests it may have been a nickname or descriptive term rather than a given name.
Throughout the centuries, the name Ambre has been borne by several notable individuals. In the 16th century, Ambre Boucher was a French noblewoman and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici. Around the same period, Ambre Morel was a renowned French poet and member of the Pléiade literary circle.
In the 18th century, Ambre Durocher was a French-Canadian settler and one of the first European women to give birth in the region that would become the city of Montreal. During the 19th century, Ambre de la Roche was a French artist known for her exquisite portraits and landscapes.
More recently, in the 20th century, Ambre Dahan was a celebrated French actress and singer who graced both the stage and screen, leaving a lasting impact on the world of entertainment.
People
Ambre + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ambre 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
Ambre: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ambre?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 641 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ambre 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 534,718 US residents.
Is Ambre a common name?
We classify Ambre as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 676 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ambre most popular?
The single biggest year for Ambre was 1987, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ambre is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ambre in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 609 people with the name Ambre, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,887 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 Ambre 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 Ambre?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ambre leans strongly female. 599 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 21 male bearers (3.4%). 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 Ambre?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ambre is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.4%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Ambre most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ambre in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (422 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 Ambre in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ambre a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ambre in the SSA data are female. 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 Ambre still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ambre 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 Ambre 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 Ambre?
Find out how many people share the name Ambre on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.