Omayra
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "life" or "long-lived".
Name Census estimates that about 752 living Americans carry the first name Omayra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Omayra today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Omayra births was 1970 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Omayra. 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
752
~ 1 in 455,790 Americans
Peak year
1970
68 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2013 SSA rank
#18,586
Tracked since 1969
Census
Omayra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,771 people with the first name Omayra, which placed it at #8,229 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
#8,229
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,771 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Omayra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Omayra is Hispanic at 97.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Omayra 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 Omayra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.9% · 1,734
- White1.1% · 19
- Black or African American0.6% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 5
- Two or more races0.1% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Omayra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Omayra from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 391 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Omayra 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 Omayra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Omayras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the most babies named Omayra, while Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 80 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Omayra
Omayra is a feminine given name of Arabic origin, derived from the root "amr" which means "life" or "to live." The name gained popularity during the medieval Islamic period, particularly in regions where Arabic was the dominant language.
The earliest known record of the name Omayra can be traced back to the 7th century AD, during the Islamic golden age. It was a common name among Arab women, particularly those belonging to the elite and affluent classes of society.
In Islamic literature and historical accounts, Omayra is mentioned as the name of several prominent women. One notable example is Umm Omayra, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, who was revered for her piety and devotion to the faith.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Omayra spread across various regions of the Islamic world, including the Iberian Peninsula, where it was adopted and adapted by the Moors during their rule over parts of modern-day Spain and Portugal.
As Arabic influence expanded through trade and cultural exchange, the name Omayra also found its way into other languages and cultures. In the 13th century, a notable figure named Omayra Al-Andalusiyya, a renowned poet and scholar from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain), gained recognition for her literary works.
During the Ottoman Empire, which spanned several centuries from the 14th to the early 20th century, Omayra was a popular name among Turkish and other ethnic groups within the empire's vast territories. One notable figure was Omayra Hanim, a 16th-century Ottoman princess and the daughter of Sultan Selim II.
In more recent history, Omayra has been the name of several notable individuals, including Omayra Sánchez, a Colombian girl who tragically lost her life during the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985. Her story captured international attention and became a symbol of the resilience and courage of children in the face of natural disasters.
Other notable individuals named Omayra include Omayra Amín Tawfiq, an Egyptian actress and singer active in the mid-20th century, and Omayra Borges, a Venezuelan model and Miss Venezuela International 2000.
People
Omayra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Omayra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Omayra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Omayra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 752 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Omayra 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 455,790 US residents.
Is Omayra a common name?
We classify Omayra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 814 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Omayra most popular?
The single biggest year for Omayra was 1970, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Omayra is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Omayra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,771 people with the name Omayra, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,229 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 Omayra 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 Omayra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Omayra appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,772 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Omayra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Omayra is Hispanic at 97.9%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Omayra most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Omayra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.9% (1,734 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 Omayra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Omayra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Omayra 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 Omayra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Omayra 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 Omayra 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 people share the name Omayra?
Find out how many people share the name Omayra on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.