Jamar
A masculine name of African American origin meaning "to be lively".
Name Census estimates that about 15,473 living Americans carry the first name Jamar. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Jamar today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamar births was 1989 (595 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamar. 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 Jamar with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jamar is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 73 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,152 Americans
Peak year
1989
595 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,663
Tracked since 1967
Census
Jamar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,515 people with the first name Jamar, which placed it at #2,259 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
#2,259
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,515 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamar is Black at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.1%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Jamar 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 Jamar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.2% · 10,156
- Two or more races5.1% · 593
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 423
- White2.2% · 254
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Jamar
Out of the 15,965 babies given the name Jamar since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jamar as a male name
- Ranked #1,663 in 2024
- 101 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (595 births)
Jamar as a female name
- Ranked #10,716 in 1991
- 7 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1986 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamar appears almost entirely male. Of the 11,527 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jamar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamar from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 5,005 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jamar 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 Jamar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Florida recorded the most babies named Jamar, while Colorado, Massachusetts, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 398 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jamar
The given name Jamar has its origins in the Arabic language, where it is derived from the root word "jamal," which means "beauty" or "grace." This name first emerged during the early days of Islam, around the 7th century AD, and was commonly used in various regions of the Middle East and North Africa.
Jamar can be traced back to ancient Arabic texts and poetry, where it was often used as a descriptive name to praise an individual's physical or inner beauty. In some Islamic traditions, the name is believed to be associated with the concept of inner purity and spiritual elegance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jamar can be found in the historical records of the Umayyad Caliphate, where a prominent scholar and poet named Jamar ibn Abi Rabiah lived during the 8th century AD. He was renowned for his eloquent verses and his contributions to Arabic literature.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jamar. Jamar al-Waqidi (747-823 AD) was an early Islamic historian and scholar known for his writings on the life of Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslim conquests. Jamar al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) was a prominent Islamic reformer and political activist who advocated for modernization and unity across the Muslim world.
In the realm of literature, Jamar Qadi (1292-1366) was a renowned Persian poet and mystic from the Ilkhanid period, whose works have left a lasting impact on Persian literature. Jamar al-Nabulsi (1689-1768) was a prominent Syrian scholar, poet, and Sufi mystic who authored numerous works on Islamic theology and spiritual teachings.
Another notable figure with the name Jamar was Jamar al-Hasan (1911-1949), an influential Iraqi poet and writer who played a significant role in the Arab literary renaissance of the 20th century. His poetry explored themes of love, nationalism, and social justice, and he is celebrated as one of the pioneers of modern Arabic poetry.
People
Jamar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jamar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,473 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamar 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 22,152 US residents.
Is Jamar a common name?
We classify Jamar as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,965 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamar most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamar was 1989, when 595 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamar is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jamar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,515 people with the name Jamar, or 3.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,259 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 Jamar 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 Jamar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamar appears almost entirely male. Of the 11,527 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Jamar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamar is Black at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.1%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Jamar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jamar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (10,156 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 Jamar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamar a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Jamar 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 Jamar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamar 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 Jamar 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 common is the name Jamar?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Jamar at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.