Nadir
An Arabic name meaning "the lowest point" or "the deepest point".
Name Census estimates that about 1,244 living Americans carry the first name Nadir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nadir today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nadir births was 2001 (46 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nadir. 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
1.2K
~ 1 in 275,526 Americans
Peak year
2001
46 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,814
Tracked since 1975
Popularity
Nadir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nadir from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 372 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nadir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nadir 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 Nadir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nadirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Nadir, while California, New York, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nadir
The name Nadir originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in the Arabic word "nadir" which means "rare" or "precious." The name is believed to have been in use since the early medieval period in the Arab world.
In Islamic tradition, Nadir is mentioned as the name of one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad. According to historical records, Nadir ibn al-Harith was a prominent figure among the companions and participated in several significant battles during the early days of Islam.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nadir can be found in the 9th century work "Kitab al-Aghani" (The Book of Songs), which mentions a famous Arab poet and musician named Nadir ibn al-Mundhir al-Khuza'i who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nadir. One of the most famous is Nadir Shah, who ruled the Persian Empire from 1736 to 1747. He was known for his military conquests and briefly extended the Persian Empire's control over large parts of the Middle East and South Asia.
Another prominent figure with the name Nadir was Nadir Afonso, a 16th-century Portuguese explorer and navigator. He played a significant role in Portuguese maritime explorations, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.
In the field of literature, Nadir Ali Wazir was a prominent 20th-century Pakistani poet and writer. He wrote extensively in both Urdu and Punjabi languages and is considered one of the pioneers of modern Punjabi poetry.
Nadir Gopal Banerjee, born in 1882, was an Indian mathematician and statistician. He made significant contributions to the field of statistics and is credited with developing several statistical methods and techniques.
Lastly, Nadir Afonso, born in 1920, was a renowned Mozambican artist and sculptor. He is celebrated for his sculptures and artworks that depicted the struggles and cultural heritage of the African people.
People
Nadir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nadir as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nadir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nadir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,244 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nadir 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 275,526 US residents.
Is Nadir a common name?
We classify Nadir as "Rare". It ranks above 91.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,268 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nadir most popular?
The single biggest year for Nadir was 2001, when 46 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nadir is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nadir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nadir 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.
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.