Antar
A masculine Arabic name meaning "protector" or "guide".
Name Census estimates that about 197 living Americans carry the first name Antar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Antar today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Antar births was 1977 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Antar. 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
197
~ 1 in 1,739,870 Americans
Peak year
1977
15 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2014 SSA rank
#9,706
Tracked since 1969
Census
Antar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 279 people with the first name Antar, which placed it at #30,942 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
#30,942
National first-name rank
People counted
279
279 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Antar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Antar is Black at 54.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.8%) 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 Antar 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 Antar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.8% · 153
- White20.8% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino10.4% · 29
- Two or more races7.9% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Antar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Antar from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 96 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Antar 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 Antar 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 Antar
The name Antar has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Arabic word "antara," which means "to scatter" or "to disperse." This name is believed to have been popularized during the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian Peninsula.
One of the earliest and most famous references to the name Antar can be found in the ancient Arabic epic poem "Antar Ibn Shaddad." This epic tells the story of Antar, a legendary Arab warrior and poet who lived in the 6th century AD. The poem depicts his bravery, chivalry, and love for his beloved Abla, making him a symbol of Arab honor and heroism.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Antar. One of the earliest recorded examples is Antar ibn Abi Amer (c. 525-608 AD), a pre-Islamic Arab poet and warrior from the Banu Abs tribe. He is renowned for his poetry and his participation in the famous "Wars of Basus" between Arab tribes.
Another prominent figure was Antar ibn Shaddad al-Absi (c. 525-615 AD), the hero of the epic poem mentioned earlier. Although his existence is debated by some scholars, he is celebrated in Arab folklore as a symbol of courage, loyalty, and love.
In the 12th century, Antar ibn Muhammad al-Khazraji (1109-1211) was a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Valencia, Spain. He made significant contributions to the fields of geometry and trigonometry, and his works were widely studied in the Islamic world.
During the 13th century, Antar ibn Yahya al-Dimashqi (1201-1289) was a prominent Arab historian and geographer from Damascus. He is best known for his extensive work, "Al-Nukhbat al-Dhahabiyah fi al-Muluk al-Safawiyah," which chronicled the history of the Seljuk dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate.
In more recent times, Antar Yahya (1938-2020) was a renowned Egyptian writer and playwright. He was known for his works that explored socio-political issues and the human condition, earning him numerous literary awards and recognition throughout the Arab world.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who carried the name Antar, each leaving their mark in various fields, from literature and poetry to mathematics, astronomy, and history. The name's rich heritage and cultural significance continue to resonate across the Arabic-speaking world and beyond.
People
Antar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Antar 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
Antar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Antar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 197 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Antar 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 1,739,870 US residents.
Is Antar a common name?
We classify Antar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Antar most popular?
The single biggest year for Antar was 1977, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Antar is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Antar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 279 people with the name Antar, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,942 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 Antar 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 Antar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Antar leans strongly male. 267 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 3 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 Antar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Antar is Black at 54.8%. The next largest groups are White (20.8%) 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 Antar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Antar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.8% (153 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 Antar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Antar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Antar 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 Antar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Antar 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 Antar 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 have the name Antar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.