Lamarr
Of French origin alluding to the river Lamare in Normandy.
Name Census estimates that about 2,497 living Americans carry the first name Lamarr. It is a predominantly male name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Lamarr today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lamarr births was 1984 (73 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lamarr. 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 Lamarr with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 137,266 Americans
Peak year
1984
73 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,072
Tracked since 1918
Census
Lamarr in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,697 people with the first name Lamarr, which placed it at #8,539 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
#8,539
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,697 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lamarr
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lamarr is Black at 82.3%. The next largest groups are White (9.0%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Lamarr 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 Lamarr at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.3% · 1,397
- White9.0% · 153
- Two or more races4.5% · 77
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Lamarr
Lamarr leans heavily male at 99.0% of total registrations, but 30 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lamarr as a male name
- Ranked #11,728 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (73 births)
Lamarr as a female name
- Ranked #10,072 in 1976
- 5 female births in 1976
- Peak: 1974 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lamarr leans strongly male. 1,613 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 91 female bearers (5.3%).
Popularity
Lamarr: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lamarr from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 607 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
Lamarr 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 Lamarr during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lamarrs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Michigan, Illinois recorded the most babies named Lamarr, while Virginia, Utah, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 88 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lamarr
The name Lamarr has its origins in the French language, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 16th century. It is believed to have been derived from the Old French word "l'amar," which means "the bitter one" or "the lover." The name may also have roots in the Latin word "amarus," meaning "bitter."
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Lamarr was a French nobleman and courtier named Lamarr de Montmorency, who lived during the reign of King Francis I in the early 16th century. De Montmorency was a prominent figure at the royal court and played a significant role in the political affairs of the time.
In the realm of literature, the name Lamarr appears in some classical French texts, such as the works of renowned playwright Molière. One of Molière's plays, "Les Précieuses Ridicules" (The Affected Ladies), features a character named Lamarr, albeit as a minor character.
Moving forward in history, the name Lamarr gained popularity in the 19th century, particularly in the United States. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-American actress and inventor who lived from 1914 to 2000. Known for her striking beauty and acting talent, Lamarr also made significant contributions to the field of technology, co-inventing a frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology that paved the way for modern wireless communications.
Another notable figure was Lamarr Mondrik, an American artist and painter born in 1899. Mondrik was renowned for his abstract expressionist paintings and was part of the influential New York School of artists in the mid-20th century. His works are displayed in prestigious museums around the world.
In the field of music, Lamarr Renee Wilson, better known as Mariah Carey, is a celebrated American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1970. She is renowned for her powerful vocal range and has achieved numerous accolades, including multiple Grammy Awards and numerous chart-topping hits.
Furthermore, Lamarr Houston is a former American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 2010 to 2017. Born in 1987, Houston was a standout player at the University of Texas and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
While the name Lamarr may have originated in France, it has since gained recognition and popularity across various cultures and languages, with individuals bearing this unique name making significant contributions in diverse fields throughout history.
People
Lamarr + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lamarr as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lamarr: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lamarr?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,497 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lamarr 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 137,266 US residents.
Is Lamarr a common name?
We classify Lamarr as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,917 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lamarr most popular?
The single biggest year for Lamarr was 1984, when 73 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lamarr is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lamarr in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,697 people with the name Lamarr, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,539 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 Lamarr 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 Lamarr?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lamarr leans strongly male. 1,613 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 91 female bearers (5.3%). 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 Lamarr?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lamarr is Black at 82.3%. The next largest groups are White (9.0%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Lamarr most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lamarr in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.3% (1,397 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 Lamarr in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lamarr a male name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Lamarr 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 Lamarr still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lamarr 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 Lamarr 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 Americans are named Lamarr?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Lamarr at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.