Ismar
A masculine given name of Arabic origin meaning "fruitful, prosperous."
Name Census estimates that about 108 living Americans carry the first name Ismar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 90.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Ismar today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ismar births was 1990 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ismar. 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
108
~ 1 in 3,173,651 Americans
Peak year
1990
11 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2022 SSA rank
#7,497
Tracked since 1990
Census
Ismar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 462 people with the first name Ismar, which placed it at #21,817 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
#21,817
National first-name rank
People counted
462
462 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
75.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ismar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ismar is Hispanic at 75.8%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Black (1.9%). 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 Ismar 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 Ismar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino75.8% · 350
- White22.1% · 102
- Black or African American1.9% · 9
- Two or more races0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Ismar
Ismar leans heavily male at 90.0% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ismar as a male name
- Ranked #11,404 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2008 (10 births)
Ismar as a female name
- Ranked #7,497 in 1990
- 11 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1990 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ismar leans strongly male. 396 people counted with this name were male (85.0%), compared with 70 female bearers (15.0%).
Popularity
Ismar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ismar from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 58 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
Ismar 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 Ismar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ismars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ismar
The given name Ismar is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "ismar" which means "iron" or "blacksmith." It is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the medieval period, when blacksmithing and metalworking were highly respected crafts.
The earliest recorded use of the name Ismar can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appeared in various Arabic manuscripts and historical records. It was particularly popular among the Bedouin tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, who were known for their skilled metalworkers and artisans.
In the 12th century, the name Ismar gained prominence with the birth of Ismar al-Baghdadi, a renowned Islamic philosopher and theologian from Baghdad. He was widely respected for his contributions to the fields of logic, metaphysics, and epistemology.
Another notable figure bearing the name Ismar was Ismar al-Razi, a 13th-century Persian polymath known for his expertise in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. He authored several influential works, including a treatise on the motion of celestial bodies.
During the 15th century, Ismar al-Andalusi, a Moorish scholar and poet from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain), gained recognition for his beautiful love poetry and contributions to the literary arts.
In the 19th century, Ismar Thiulen, a Norwegian explorer and adventurer, became famous for his daring expeditions to the Arctic regions. He was one of the first Europeans to extensively document the indigenous cultures and landscapes of the far north.
The name Ismar has also been associated with various religious and spiritual figures throughout history, although specific details about their lives and legacies are scarce.
People
Ismar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ismar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ismar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ismar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 108 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ismar 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 3,173,651 US residents.
Is Ismar a common name?
We classify Ismar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ismar most popular?
The single biggest year for Ismar was 1990, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ismar 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 Ismar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 462 people with the name Ismar, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,817 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 Ismar 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 Ismar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ismar leans strongly male. 396 people counted with this name were male (85.0%), compared with 70 female bearers (15.0%). 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 Ismar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ismar is Hispanic at 75.8%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Black (1.9%). 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 Ismar most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ismar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.8% (350 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 Ismar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ismar a male name?
Yes, 90.0% of people registered as Ismar 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 Ismar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ismar 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 Ismar 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 Ismar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.