Bashar
Arabic masculine name derived from the word "Bashir" meaning "bearer of good news".
Name Census estimates that about 363 living Americans carry the first name Bashar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bashar today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bashar births was 2004 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bashar. 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 Bashar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
363
~ 1 in 944,227 Americans
Peak year
2004
25 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,998
Tracked since 1973
Census
Bashar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,577 people with the first name Bashar, which placed it at #8,997 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
#8,997
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,577 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bashar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bashar is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Black (3.4%). 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 Bashar 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 Bashar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.1% · 1,390
- Two or more races4.7% · 74
- Black or African American3.4% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 11
Popularity
Bashar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bashar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 152 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bashar 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 Bashar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bashars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Bashar, while Ohio, Michigan, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bashar
The name Bashar is derived from the Arabic language and is believed to have originated in the Middle East region. It is a masculine name that can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the early Islamic era.
Bashar is derived from the Arabic root word "bashar," which means "human being" or "flesh and blood." The name is often associated with the concept of humanity, kindness, and compassion. It is also believed to have connections with the Arabic word "bashara," which translates to "good news" or "glad tidings."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bashar can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. In the Qur'an, the term "bashar" is used to refer to the Prophet Muhammad as a human being, emphasizing his mortal nature and connection to humanity.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Bashar. One of the most famous was Bashar ibn Burd (776-835 CE), a renowned Arab poet and scholar from Persia. He was known for his contributions to Arabic literature and his mastery of various poetic forms.
Another famous Bashar was Bashar al-Shawish (1460-1502 CE), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer from Damascus. He made significant contributions to the study of spherical trigonometry and authored several works on mathematics and astronomy.
In the modern era, Bashar al-Assad (born in 1965) is perhaps the most well-known individual with this name. He is the current President of Syria and has held this position since 2000. His father, Hafez al-Assad, was also the President of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.
Other notable individuals with the name Bashar include Bashar al-Asad (1923-1992), a Syrian military officer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Syria from 1987 to 1988, and Bashar Murad (born in 1966), a Lebanese actor and director known for his work in both film and television.
Throughout its history, the name Bashar has been associated with various prominent figures in the realms of literature, science, politics, and the arts, reflecting its rich cultural heritage and significance in the Arab world.
People
Bashar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bashar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bashar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bashar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 363 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bashar 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 944,227 US residents.
Is Bashar a common name?
We classify Bashar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 370 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bashar most popular?
The single biggest year for Bashar was 2004, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bashar is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bashar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,577 people with the name Bashar, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,997 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 Bashar 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 Bashar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bashar appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,571 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Bashar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bashar is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Black (3.4%). 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 Bashar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bashar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (1,390 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 Bashar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bashar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bashar 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 Bashar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bashar 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 Bashar 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 Bashar?
Find out how many people share the name Bashar on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.