Chamara
An Indian unisex name meaning "excellent" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 73 living Americans carry the first name Chamara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chamara today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chamara births was 1997 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chamara. 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 Chamara. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
73
~ 1 in 4,695,265 Americans
Peak year
1997
8 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2007 SSA rank
#14,227
Tracked since 1977
Census
Chamara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 148 people with the first name Chamara, which placed it at #45,698 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
#45,698
National first-name rank
People counted
148
148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chamara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chamara is Black at 67.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.9%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Chamara 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 Chamara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.6% · 100
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.9% · 28
- Two or more races6.1% · 9
- White3.4% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
Popularity
Chamara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chamara from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 23 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Chamara remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chamara 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 Chamara 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 Chamara
The name Chamara has its origins in the Sanskrit language, with roots that can be traced back to ancient India. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "chamara," which means a whisk or a fly-whisk made from the tail of a yak or a cow. These whisks were traditionally used as ceremonial objects in Hindu and Buddhist rituals to fan deities or revered individuals.
In Hinduism, the chamara is closely associated with several gods and goddesses, including Shiva, Vishnu, and Lakshmi. It is considered a symbol of royalty, respect, and reverence. The name Chamara may have been given to individuals who were involved in religious or spiritual pursuits or those who held positions of honor and esteem.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Chamara can be found in ancient Indian texts and inscriptions dating back to the 5th century CE. One notable figure from this era was Chamara Sambhava, a Buddhist philosopher and scholar who lived in the 7th century CE and made significant contributions to the study of Buddhist logic and epistemology.
Another historical figure with the name Chamara was Chamara Rishi, a renowned Hindu sage and author who lived in the 8th century CE. He is credited with writing several influential texts on Hinduism, including the "Chamara Smriti," which explored various aspects of Hindu dharma and social conduct.
In the 12th century CE, there was a Chamara Devi, a Hindu queen and the wife of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the construction of temples and monuments in the region.
Chamara Nath was a 16th-century Indian poet and writer who composed several works in the Braj Bhasha dialect of Hindi. He was born in 1556 and is remembered for his contribution to the bhakti (devotional) literary tradition.
Another notable figure with the name Chamara was Chamara Raju, a 17th-century ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire in southern India. He reigned from 1648 to 1672 and was known for his military campaigns and the expansion of his kingdom's territories.
While the name Chamara has its roots in ancient India, it has been adopted and used in various parts of the world over the centuries, particularly in regions influenced by Hindu and Buddhist cultures.
People
Chamara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chamara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chamara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chamara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 73 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chamara 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 4,695,265 US residents.
Is Chamara a common name?
We classify Chamara as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 76 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chamara most popular?
The single biggest year for Chamara was 1997, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chamara is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chamara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 148 people with the name Chamara, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,698 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 Chamara 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 Chamara?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chamara on both sides of the split. Of the 155 people counted with this name, 31 were male (20.0%) and 124 were female (80.0%). 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 Chamara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chamara is Black at 67.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.9%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Chamara most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chamara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.6% (100 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 Chamara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chamara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chamara 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 Chamara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chamara 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 Chamara 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 Chamara as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Chamara, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.