Nur
A name of Arabic origin meaning "light" or "illumination".
Name Census estimates that about 801 living Americans carry the first name Nur. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Nur today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nur births was 2023 (63 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nur. 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 Nur with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
801
~ 1 in 427,908 Americans
Peak year
2023
63 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,728
Tracked since 1981
Census
Nur in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,679 people with the first name Nur, which placed it at #8,605 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
#8,605
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,679 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
45.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nur
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nur is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.2%. The next largest groups are White (23.5%) and Black (22.5%). 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 Nur 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 Nur at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander45.2% · 759
- White23.5% · 395
- Black or African American22.5% · 378
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 84
- Two or more races3.6% · 61
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Nur
Nur is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 813 total registrations, 200 (24.6%) were male and 613 (75.4%) were female.
Nur as a male name
- Ranked #8,753 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (15 births)
Nur as a female name
- Ranked #4,728 in 2024
- 29 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (52 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nur on both sides of the split. Of the 1,678 people counted with this name, 731 were male (43.6%) and 947 were female (56.4%).
Popularity
Nur: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nur from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 234 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nur 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 Nur during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nurs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Nur, while Texas, Illinois, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nur
The name Nur has its origins in several languages and cultures across the Middle East and Central Asia. It is derived from the Arabic word "nur" which means light or radiance, and has been used as a name for both males and females in the Islamic world for centuries.
In Persian and Turkish, the name Nur also means light or brilliance, and it has been a popular name among speakers of these languages for many generations. The name can be traced back to ancient Persian texts and literature, where it was often used as a metaphor for enlightenment and spiritual illumination.
In Islamic tradition, the name Nur is often associated with the concept of divine light or the light of guidance from God. It is mentioned in several verses of the Quran, which has contributed to its widespread use among Muslims. For example, in Surah An-Nur (The Light), verse 35 states: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth."
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nur is Nur al-Din Mahmud Zangi, a powerful ruler of the Zangid dynasty who lived from 1118 to 1174 CE. He was a key figure in the Muslim resistance against the Crusaders and played a significant role in the recapture of Edessa from the Crusader states.
Another notable historical figure with the name Nur was Nur Jahan, the wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, who lived from 1577 to 1645 CE. She was a powerful and influential figure in the Mughal court and played a crucial role in the administration of the empire during her husband's reign.
In the 13th century, there was a famous Sufi mystic and poet known as Nur al-Din Abd al-Rahman Jami, who lived from 1414 to 1492 CE. He was widely respected for his spiritual teachings and his contributions to Persian literature, including his masterpiece, the "Haft Awrang" (Seven Thrones).
In more recent times, Nur Inayat Khan, a British spy of Indian descent, gained fame for her heroic actions during World War II. She was the first female wireless operator to be sent to Nazi-occupied France and played a crucial role in the resistance movement before being captured and executed in 1944 at the age of 30.
Another famous bearer of the name Nur was Nur Muhammad Taraki, the first President of Afghanistan after the Saur Revolution in 1978. He served as the leader of the country until his assassination in 1979, during a period of political turmoil and civil war.
People
Nur + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nur 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
Nur: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nur?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 801 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nur 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 427,908 US residents.
Is Nur a common name?
We classify Nur as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 813 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nur most popular?
The single biggest year for Nur was 2023, when 63 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nur is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nur in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,679 people with the name Nur, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,605 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 Nur 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 Nur?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nur on both sides of the split. Of the 1,678 people counted with this name, 731 were male (43.6%) and 947 were female (56.4%). 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 Nur?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nur is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.2%. The next largest groups are White (23.5%) and Black (22.5%). 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 Nur most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Nur in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.2% (759 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 Nur in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nur a female name?
Yes, 75.4% of people registered as Nur in the SSA data are female. 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 Nur still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nur 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 Nur 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 Nur?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Nur at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.