Amilcar
A masculine name of Phoenician origin meaning "Servant of Melqart".
Name Census estimates that about 922 living Americans carry the first name Amilcar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Amilcar today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amilcar births was 2006 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amilcar. 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.
People living today
922
~ 1 in 371,751 Americans
Peak year
2006
32 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,560
Tracked since 1957
Census
Amilcar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,724 people with the first name Amilcar, which placed it at #4,837 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
#4,837
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,724 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amilcar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amilcar is Hispanic at 92.3%. The next largest groups are White (3.9%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Amilcar 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 Amilcar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.3% · 3,437
- White3.9% · 146
- Black or African American3.2% · 118
- Two or more races0.2% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 6
Popularity
Amilcar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amilcar from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 238 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Amilcar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amilcar 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 Amilcar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amilcars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Virginia recorded the most babies named Amilcar, while New York, Virginia, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 55 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amilcar
The name Amilcar has its roots in the Punic culture of ancient Carthage, a powerful maritime city-state located in modern-day Tunisia. Derived from the Punic phrase "mlk'hr," which translates to "man of Melqart," it was a name bestowed upon those dedicated to the worship of the Phoenician god Melqart, the patron deity of Tyre and Carthage.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Amilcar can be traced back to the 6th century BC, when it appeared in Carthaginian inscriptions and historical records. One of the most notable bearers of this name was Amilcar Barca, a celebrated Carthaginian general and statesman who lived from approximately 275 to 228 BC. He is renowned for his military exploits during the First Punic War against Rome and for laying the foundations for Carthage's expansion into Spain.
During the Middle Ages, the name Amilcar saw a resurgence in popularity among the Iberian Peninsula's population, particularly in Portugal and Spain. This can be attributed to the enduring influence of the Moorish culture, which had deep ties to the Phoenician and Punic civilizations. One notable figure from this era was Amilcar de Anaya, a 13th-century Spanish nobleman and military leader who played a crucial role in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.
In the 16th century, Amilcar Cabral, a Portuguese explorer and navigator, made significant contributions to the Age of Discovery. He is credited with leading expeditions that explored the coasts of Brazil and the Rio de la Plata region in South America, paving the way for future Portuguese colonization efforts.
Fast-forwarding to the 20th century, Amilcar Cabral, a revolutionary leader and political theorist from Guinea-Bissau, was a pivotal figure in the struggle for independence from Portuguese colonial rule. His efforts as the founder and leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) were instrumental in securing Guinea-Bissau's independence in 1973.
Another notable bearer of the name Amilcar was Amilcar Huascar Arévalo Rios, a Guatemalan writer, diplomat, and politician who served as the President of Guatemala from 1945 to 1951. He is remembered for his progressive reforms and efforts to modernize the country during his tenure.
People
Amilcar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amilcar 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
Amilcar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amilcar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 922 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amilcar 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 371,751 US residents.
Is Amilcar a common name?
We classify Amilcar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 945 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amilcar most popular?
The single biggest year for Amilcar was 2006, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amilcar is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amilcar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,724 people with the name Amilcar, or 1.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,837 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 Amilcar 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 Amilcar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amilcar leans strongly male. 3,681 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 42 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Amilcar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amilcar is Hispanic at 92.3%. The next largest groups are White (3.9%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Amilcar most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Amilcar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.3% (3,437 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 Amilcar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amilcar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amilcar 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 Amilcar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amilcar 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 Amilcar 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 Amilcar?
Want to know how many people share the name Amilcar? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.