Meir
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "the one who illuminates".
Name Census estimates that about 4,282 living Americans carry the first name Meir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Meir today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meir births was 2024 (253 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meir. 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 Meir with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Meir is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.3K
~ 1 in 80,045 Americans
Peak year
2024
253 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#916
Tracked since 1951
Census
Meir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,372 people with the first name Meir, which placed it at #5,176 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
#5,176
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,372 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meir is White at 95.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.0%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Meir 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 Meir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.4% · 3,218
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 67
- Black or African American0.9% · 31
- Two or more races0.9% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Meir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meir from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,492 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Meir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meir 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 Meir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Meir, while Michigan, Georgia, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 403 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meir
The name Meir has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is a variant spelling of the name Meir, which is derived from the Hebrew word "or," meaning "light" or "to shine." This name is often associated with the concept of enlightenment, brilliance, and radiance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meir can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where it appears as the name of a Levite mentioned in the Book of Chronicles. The name gained popularity among Jews during the Middle Ages and has remained a widely used name within Jewish communities throughout history.
Historically, several notable figures have borne the name Meir. One of the most prominent was Rabbi Meir, a revered Jewish sage who lived in the 2nd century CE and was a leading figure in the development of the Mishnah, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
Another influential figure with this name was Meir ben Baruch of Rothenburg (c. 1215-1293), a renowned German rabbi and scholar who made significant contributions to Jewish law and ethics.
In more recent times, Meir Dizengoff (1892-1936) was a prominent Zionist leader and the first mayor of Tel Aviv, playing a crucial role in the establishment of the modern city.
Meir Kahane (1932-1990) was a controversial Jewish activist and political figure known for his advocacy of Jewish self-determination and militancy against perceived threats to the Jewish people.
Golda Meir (1898-1978) was a prominent Israeli politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She played a significant role in shaping Israeli politics and is remembered for her leadership during the Yom Kippur War.
The name Meir has a rich history and has been carried by influential figures across various fields, including religion, scholarship, politics, and activism. Its connection to the concept of light and enlightenment has made it a popular choice for parents seeking a meaningful and culturally significant name for their children.
People
Meir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meir as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Meir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,282 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meir 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 80,045 US residents.
Is Meir a common name?
We classify Meir as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,356 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meir most popular?
The single biggest year for Meir was 2024, when 253 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meir is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,372 people with the name Meir, or 1.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,176 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 Meir 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 Meir?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meir appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,369 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Meir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meir is White at 95.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.0%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Meir most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.4% (3,218 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 Meir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meir 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 Meir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meir 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 Meir 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 Meir?
See how many people share the name Meir on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.