Nameer
A name of Arabic origin meaning "great light" or "divine illumination".
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Nameer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nameer today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nameer births was 2016 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nameer. 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 Nameer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
2016
11 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,474
Tracked since 2000
Census
Nameer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Nameer, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nameer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nameer is White at 54.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.7%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Nameer 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 Nameer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.0% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander27.7% · 65
- Black or African American13.2% · 31
- Two or more races3.4% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 4
Popularity
Nameer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nameer from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 73 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nameer remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nameer 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 Nameer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nameer
The name Nameer has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "namir," which means "tiger" or "leopard." The name was likely given to children with the intention of bestowing upon them the strength, courage, and grace associated with these powerful feline predators.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nameer can be found in the historical accounts of the Umayyad Caliphate, where it was mentioned as the name of a prominent military commander who served under the caliph Al-Walid I in the early 8th century. This commander, Nameer ibn Abi Amir, was renowned for his bravery and strategic prowess on the battlefield.
Throughout the centuries, the name Nameer has been borne by several notable figures in the Islamic world. In the 10th century, Nameer al-Qudsi was a renowned scholar and poet from Jerusalem, whose works contributed significantly to the flourishing of Arabic literature during the Abbasid era.
Another prominent individual with the name Nameer was Nameer al-Baghdadi, a 12th-century mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. His contributions to the fields of trigonometry and celestial mechanics were highly influential in his time and paved the way for further advancements in these disciplines.
In more recent history, Nameer Ghalib was an acclaimed Iraqi painter and sculptor who lived in the 20th century (1922-2004). His work was instrumental in shaping the modern art movement in Iraq and earned him widespread recognition both within and beyond the Arab world.
Another notable figure named Nameer was Nameer Nabil, an Egyptian actor and comedian who graced the silver screen in the latter half of the 20th century (1935-2018). His comedic prowess and talent for portraying diverse characters made him a beloved figure in the Egyptian entertainment industry.
While the name Nameer has its roots in Arabic culture, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, transcending linguistic and cultural boundaries. Throughout its long and storied history, the name has been associated with individuals who have displayed qualities of strength, courage, and intellectual excellence, reflecting the essence of its original meaning.
People
Nameer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nameer 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
Nameer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nameer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nameer 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Nameer a common name?
We classify Nameer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 126 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nameer most popular?
The single biggest year for Nameer was 2016, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nameer is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nameer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Nameer, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Nameer 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 Nameer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nameer leans strongly male. 229 people counted with this name were male (96.6%), compared with 8 female bearers (3.4%). 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 Nameer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nameer is White at 54.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.7%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Nameer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nameer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.0% (127 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 Nameer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nameer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nameer 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 Nameer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nameer 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 Nameer 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 Nameer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.