Amena
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "trustworthy" or "faithful".
Name Census estimates that about 1,024 living Americans carry the first name Amena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Amena today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amena births was 2016 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amena. 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 Amena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 334,721 Americans
Peak year
2016
44 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,657
Tracked since 1968
Census
Amena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,496 people with the first name Amena, which placed it at #9,326 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
#9,326
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,496 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
45.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amena is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and White (19.7%). 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 Amena 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 Amena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander45.5% · 681
- Black or African American20.7% · 310
- White19.7% · 294
- Two or more races8.6% · 129
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 78
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Amena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amena from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 313 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Amena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amena 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 Amena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Amena, while Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amena
The name Amena has its roots in Arabic and Persian cultures, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Arabic word "ameen," which means "trustworthy" or "faithful." In Persian, the name is spelled "Ameneh" and carries similar meanings of trust and loyalty.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Amena can be found in Islamic literature, where it is mentioned as a feminine form of the name Ameen. In the Quran, the word "ameen" is used to signify a person's belief and trust in God. This association with faith and devotion likely contributed to the popularity of the name among Muslim communities.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Amena. One of the most famous is Amena bint Wahb, the mother of the Prophet Muhammad, who lived in the 6th century CE in Mecca. She is revered in Islamic tradition for her piety and virtuous character.
Another prominent figure named Amena was Amena Begum, the wife of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, who ruled over the Indian subcontinent in the 16th century. She was known for her influential role in the royal court and her patronage of the arts and culture.
In the 19th century, Amena Bamikazari was a notable Persian poet and writer. She was celebrated for her eloquent and insightful works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition.
The name Amena also held significance in Ottoman Turkish literature. Amena Semiha, born in 1876, was a renowned novelist and playwright who pioneered the feminist movement in Turkey through her writings and activism.
In more recent times, Amena Khan, a British model and influencer, gained recognition for her advocacy of modest fashion and representation of Muslim women in the fashion industry.
The name Amena has transcended cultures and eras, carrying with it the connotations of trustworthiness, faithfulness, and devotion. Its enduring presence throughout history reflects the enduring values associated with this name.
People
Amena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amena 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
Amena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,024 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amena 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 334,721 US residents.
Is Amena a common name?
We classify Amena as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,051 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amena most popular?
The single biggest year for Amena was 2016, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amena is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,496 people with the name Amena, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,326 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 Amena 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 Amena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amena appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,488 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Amena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amena is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Black (20.7%) and White (19.7%). 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 Amena most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Amena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.5% (681 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 Amena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amena 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 Amena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amena 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 Amena 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 Amena?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.