Ameerah
An Arabic feminine name meaning "princess" or "sovereign woman".
Name Census estimates that about 2,529 living Americans carry the first name Ameerah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ameerah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ameerah births was 2018 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ameerah. 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 Ameerah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Ameerah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 135,530 Americans
Peak year
2018
120 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,949
Tracked since 1976
Census
Ameerah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,655 people with the first name Ameerah, which placed it at #8,695 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
#8,695
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,655 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ameerah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ameerah is Black at 53.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.3%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Ameerah 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 Ameerah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.5% · 885
- White14.3% · 236
- Hispanic or Latino14.3% · 236
- Two or more races8.6% · 143
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 139
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 16
Popularity
Ameerah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ameerah 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 952 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ameerah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ameerah 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 Ameerah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ameerahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Ameerah, while Massachusetts, Arizona, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 81 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ameerah
The name Ameerah is of Arabic origin and is derived from the root word "amr," which means "to command" or "to order." It is a feminine name that carries the meaning of "princess" or "noble lady."
Ameerah has its roots in the Islamic tradition, where it was used to refer to the daughters of leaders or rulers. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the 7th century, during the time of the Islamic caliphates in the Middle East.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Ameerah can be found in the writings of the famous Arab historian and scholar, Al-Tabari, who lived in the 9th century CE. He mentions an Ameerah who was the daughter of a prominent Arab leader during the early years of Islam.
Throughout history, the name Ameerah has been borne by several notable women. One of the most famous was Ameerah Bint Abid Al-Muthalib, who lived in the 6th century CE and was the paternal aunt of the Prophet Muhammad. She played a significant role in his upbringing and was renowned for her wisdom and piety.
Another prominent figure with the name Ameerah was Ameerah Al-Andalusiyah, a 10th-century Andalusian poet and scholar who made significant contributions to the literary and intellectual life of the Iberian Peninsula during the Golden Age of Islamic Spain.
In the 12th century, Ameerah Bint Al-Mu'tamin was a powerful and influential ruler of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt and Syria. She was known for her political acumen and her patronage of arts and sciences.
Ameerah Mawaheb Al-Dawlah, who lived in the 16th century, was a renowned Persian poet and calligrapher. Her works were highly regarded and celebrated for their beauty and elegance.
Ameerah Al-Jamal, born in the late 19th century, was a pioneering Egyptian feminist and activist who fought for women's rights and education in Egypt. She was a prominent figure in the Egyptian feminist movement and played a crucial role in advancing the cause of women's empowerment in her country.
People
Ameerah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ameerah 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
Ameerah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ameerah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,529 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ameerah 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 135,530 US residents.
Is Ameerah a common name?
We classify Ameerah as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,570 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ameerah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ameerah was 2018, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ameerah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ameerah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,655 people with the name Ameerah, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,695 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 Ameerah 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 Ameerah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ameerah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,654 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Ameerah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ameerah is Black at 53.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.3%) and Hispanic (14.3%). 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 Ameerah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ameerah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.5% (885 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 Ameerah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ameerah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ameerah 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 Ameerah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ameerah 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 Ameerah 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 Americans are named Ameerah?
Want to know how many people have the name Ameerah? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.