Anuar
An Arabic name meaning "radiant" or "luminous".
Name Census estimates that about 318 living Americans carry the first name Anuar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Anuar today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anuar births was 2005 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anuar. 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 Anuar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
318
~ 1 in 1,077,844 Americans
Peak year
2005
19 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,901
Tracked since 1981
Census
Anuar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 530 people with the first name Anuar, which placed it at #19,787 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
#19,787
National first-name rank
People counted
530
530 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anuar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anuar is Hispanic at 86.0%. The next largest groups are White (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Anuar 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 Anuar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino86.0% · 456
- White8.3% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 26
- Two or more races0.6% · 3
- Black or African American0.2% · 1
Popularity
Anuar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anuar from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Anuar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anuar 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 Anuar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anuars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Anuar
The given name Anuar is believed to have originated from the Arabic language, derived from the root word "nur," which means "light" or "radiance." It is a masculine name that has been in use for centuries across various regions influenced by Arabic culture and Islamic traditions.
The earliest known references to the name Anuar can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when it was commonly used among Arab populations in the Middle East and North Africa. During this period, the name was often associated with Islamic scholars, poets, and intellectuals who sought enlightenment and wisdom through their pursuits.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Anuar was Anuar al-Andalusi, a renowned Islamic philosopher and scholar who lived in the 12th century in Andalusia, present-day Spain. His works on philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics greatly influenced the intellectual discourse of his time.
In the 13th century, Anuar ibn Ibrahim al-Maliki, a prominent Maliki scholar and jurist from Mecca, made significant contributions to Islamic jurisprudence and legal studies. His writings and teachings were widely respected and studied throughout the Islamic world.
During the Ottoman Empire, the name Anuar gained further prominence. Anuar Pasha, born in 1670, was a distinguished Ottoman statesman and diplomat who served as the Grand Vizier (prime minister) under Sultan Ahmed III in the early 18th century.
In more recent times, Anuar Ibrahim, born in 1936, was a renowned Malaysian politician and diplomat who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1986 to 1993. He played a crucial role in the country's economic and political development during his tenure.
Another notable figure bearing the name Anuar is Anuar Senan, an Egyptian actor and comedian born in 1942. He has had a prolific career in Egyptian cinema and television, entertaining audiences with his comedic talents for over five decades.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Anuar, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry of the regions they hailed from.
People
Anuar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anuar 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
Anuar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anuar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 318 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anuar 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 1,077,844 US residents.
Is Anuar a common name?
We classify Anuar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 322 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anuar most popular?
The single biggest year for Anuar was 2005, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anuar is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anuar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 530 people with the name Anuar, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,787 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 Anuar 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 Anuar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anuar leans strongly male. 537 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Anuar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anuar is Hispanic at 86.0%. The next largest groups are White (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Anuar most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Anuar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (456 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 Anuar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anuar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anuar 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 Anuar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anuar 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 Anuar 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 Anuar?
Want to know how many people have the name Anuar? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.