Anber
A feminine Arabic name meaning "amber" or "fragrant resin".
Name Census estimates that about 53 living Americans carry the first name Anber. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anber today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anber births was 1988 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anber. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Anber. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
53
~ 1 in 6,467,063 Americans
Peak year
1988
7 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1995 SSA rank
#13,538
Tracked since 1977
Census
Anber in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 268 people with the first name Anber, which placed it at #31,773 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
#31,773
National first-name rank
People counted
268
268 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anber
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anber is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.7%) and Hispanic (10.4%). 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 Anber 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 Anber at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.4% · 170
- Black or African American12.7% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.2% · 22
- Two or more races3.0% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 6
Popularity
Anber: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anber from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 27 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anber 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 Anber during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anber
The name Anber is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, with roots tracing back to ancient civilizations in the Middle East. It is derived from the Arabic word "anbar," which means "amber" – the fossilized tree resin prized for its aroma and use in perfumes.
In Islamic and Arabic cultures, the name Anber has been associated with the fragrant amber resin, symbolizing purity, beauty, and elegance. The name's connection to this precious material has given it a sense of rarity and exclusivity throughout its history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Anber can be found in the works of medieval Arabic poets and writers, who often used it as a metaphor for beauty and grace. The 9th-century poet Abu Tammam, for example, praised the charms of a woman named Anber in one of his celebrated poems.
The name Anber has also been borne by several notable figures throughout history. In the 12th century, Anber ibn al-Harith was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Cordoba, Spain, known for his contributions to Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory.
Another bearer of this name was Anber al-Ansari, a 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Persia. His spiritual writings and poetry, infused with the symbolism of amber, have been widely studied and admired in the Islamic world.
In the 16th century, Anber Bey was a prominent Ottoman statesman and diplomat who served as the governor of several provinces in the Ottoman Empire. His diplomatic skills and leadership were highly regarded during his time.
Anber Ali Khan was an 18th-century Mughal nobleman and military commander who played a significant role in the struggles for power during the decline of the Mughal Empire in India. His bravery and strategic acumen were celebrated by historians of the era.
In more recent times, Anber Ayyub was a 20th-century Syrian poet and writer who gained recognition for her poetic works that explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition. Her poetry collections were widely read and appreciated in the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Anber + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anber 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
Anber: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anber?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 53 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anber 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 6,467,063 US residents.
Is Anber a common name?
We classify Anber as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 56 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anber most popular?
The single biggest year for Anber was 1988, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anber is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anber in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 268 people with the name Anber, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,773 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 Anber 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 Anber?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anber leans strongly female. 266 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 6 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Anber?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anber is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.7%) and Hispanic (10.4%). 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 Anber most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anber in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.4% (170 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 Anber in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anber a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anber 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 Anber still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anber 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 Anber 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 Anber?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.