Anas
A masculine Arabic name derived from the root word "anas" meaning "intimacy" or "familiarity".
Name Census estimates that about 2,721 living Americans carry the first name Anas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Anas today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anas births was 2016 (151 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anas. 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 Anas with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Anas is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 125,966 Americans
Peak year
2016
151 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,377
Tracked since 1978
Census
Anas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,483 people with the first name Anas, which placed it at #5,060 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
#5,060
National first-name rank
People counted
3.5K
3,483 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anas is White at 61.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.0%). 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 Anas 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 Anas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.8% · 2,152
- Black or African American18.3% · 638
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.0% · 486
- Two or more races4.5% · 156
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 51
Popularity
Anas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anas 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 1,066 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Anas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anas 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 Anas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. New York, Minnesota, California recorded the most babies named Anas, while Tennessee, Nebraska, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anas
The name Anas originated from the Arabic language and has its roots traced back to the ancient Semitic civilizations in the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic word "anasa," which means "to be friendly, sociable, or intimate." The name carries a connotation of warmth, companionship, and amicability.
In Islamic tradition, Anas ibn Malik was a prominent companion of the Prophet Muhammad and is revered as one of the most trusted sources of hadith (accounts depicting the words and actions of the Prophet). He was born around 612 CE in Medina and lived until approximately 712 CE, serving as a significant figure in the early days of Islam.
The name Anas has also been associated with various historical figures and scholars across different cultures and time periods. In the 9th century, Anas ibn Malik al-Qadi was a renowned Muslim judge and scholar from Baghdad, known for his expertise in jurisprudence and Arabic literature.
Another notable figure bearing the name Anas was Anas al-Shami, a 13th-century Muslim scholar and poet from Damascus, who was renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature and his mastery of the Arabic language.
In the realm of science, Anas ibn Malik al-Qurashi was a 10th-century Muslim astronomer and mathematician from Cordoba, Spain. He made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and was considered a pioneer in the development of astronomical instruments.
Anas Malik was a prominent Pakistani poet and writer of the 20th century, born in 1923. He was known for his extensive literary works, including poetry collections and novels that explored themes of love, spirituality, and societal issues.
Anas Nader is a contemporary Lebanese-American journalist and author, born in 1959. He has worked for various international news organizations and has written extensively on Middle Eastern affairs, contributing to a deeper understanding of the region's complexities.
While the name Anas has its origins in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and communities around the world, transcending cultural boundaries and embracing its positive connotations of friendliness and sociability.
People
Anas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anas 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
Anas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,721 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anas 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 125,966 US residents.
Is Anas a common name?
We classify Anas as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anas most popular?
The single biggest year for Anas was 2016, when 151 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anas is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,483 people with the name Anas, or 1.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,060 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 Anas 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 Anas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anas leans strongly male. 3,409 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 84 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Anas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anas is White at 61.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.0%). 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 Anas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.8% (2,152 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 Anas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anas 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 Anas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anas 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 Anas 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 share the name Anas?
Want to know how many Americans are named Anas? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.