Muneer
Illuminator, giver of light, or radiant one.
Name Census estimates that about 269 living Americans carry the first name Muneer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Muneer today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Muneer births was 2017 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Muneer. 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 Muneer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
269
~ 1 in 1,274,180 Americans
Peak year
2017
15 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,685
Tracked since 1977
Census
Muneer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 578 people with the first name Muneer, which placed it at #18,590 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
#18,590
National first-name rank
People counted
578
578 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Muneer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Muneer is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.9%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Muneer 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 Muneer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.9% · 271
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.9% · 173
- Black or African American14.7% · 85
- Two or more races6.7% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Muneer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Muneer from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Muneer remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Muneer 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 Muneer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Muneers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Muneer
The name Muneer has its roots in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "nur," which means "light" or "illumination." The name can be traced back to the 7th century AD, during the early days of Islam.
Muneer is a name that carries a positive and uplifting connotation, reflecting the desire for a person to be a source of light and guidance in their life and community. In Islamic tradition, the concept of light is often associated with knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual enlightenment.
The name Muneer appears in several historical texts and Islamic literature. One of the earliest recorded instances is in the Quran, where the word "nur" is used to describe the divine light of God and the guidance it provides to believers.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Muneer. One of the earliest was Muneer ibn Isa al-Balkhi, a Persian scholar and mathematician who lived in the 9th century AD. He made significant contributions to the field of algebra and wrote several influential works on mathematics.
Another prominent figure was Muneer Shoukair, a renowned Syrian novelist and playwright who lived from 1904 to 1969. His works explored themes of social injustice, poverty, and the struggles of the working class in Syrian society. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern Arabic literature.
In the realm of politics, Muneer Shafiq was an influential Egyptian statesman who served as Prime Minister of Egypt from 1973 to 1975. He played a key role in the negotiations leading to the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.
Muneer Bashir was an Iraqi poet and writer who lived from 1930 to 1997. He was widely celebrated for his lyrical poetry and his contributions to the literary renaissance in Iraq during the mid-20th century.
Another notable figure was Muneer Malik, a Pakistani cricketer who played for the national team in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a skilled all-rounder and represented Pakistan in over 50 Test matches and numerous One Day International matches.
These are just a few examples of the many distinguished individuals throughout history who have borne the name Muneer, reflecting its rich cultural heritage and the diverse accomplishments of those who carried this name.
People
Muneer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Muneer 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
Muneer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Muneer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 269 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Muneer 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 1,274,180 US residents.
Is Muneer a common name?
We classify Muneer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 274 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Muneer most popular?
The single biggest year for Muneer was 2017, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Muneer is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Muneer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 578 people with the name Muneer, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,590 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 Muneer 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 Muneer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Muneer leans strongly male. 551 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 27 female bearers (4.7%). 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 Muneer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Muneer is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.9%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Muneer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Muneer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (271 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 Muneer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Muneer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Muneer 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 Muneer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Muneer 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 Muneer 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 Muneer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.