Qamar
An Arabic masculine name meaning "moon" or "lune".
Name Census estimates that about 481 living Americans carry the first name Qamar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Qamar today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Qamar births was 2024 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Qamar. 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 Qamar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
481
~ 1 in 712,587 Americans
Peak year
2024
53 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,360
Tracked since 1988
Census
Qamar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,109 people with the first name Qamar, which placed it at #11,518 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
#11,518
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,109 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
51.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Qamar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Qamar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 51.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.4%) and White (20.6%). 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 Qamar 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 Qamar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander51.1% · 567
- Black or African American23.4% · 259
- White20.6% · 228
- Two or more races3.9% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Qamar
Qamar is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 485 total registrations, 165 (34.0%) were male and 320 (66.0%) were female.
Qamar as a male name
- Ranked #11,950 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (13 births)
Qamar as a female name
- Ranked #3,360 in 2024
- 47 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (47 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Qamar on both sides of the split. Of the 1,108 people counted with this name, 417 were male (37.6%) and 691 were female (62.4%).
Popularity
Qamar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Qamar from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 207 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
Qamar 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 Qamar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Qamars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Michigan, Texas recorded the most babies named Qamar, while California, Texas, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Qamar
The name Qamar has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic word "qamar," which means "moon." The name's popularity can be traced back to the Middle East and North Africa, where it has been in use for centuries.
Qamar is mentioned in several historical and religious texts, including the Quran, where it is used as a metaphor for beauty and radiance. In Arabic poetry and literature, the moon has been a recurring symbol, and the name Qamar is often associated with qualities such as grace, elegance, and serenity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Qamar can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab poet Al-Khansa, who lived in the 7th century CE. She wrote several poems dedicated to her brothers, one of whom was named Qamar.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Qamar. One such person was Qamar al-Din al-Dimashqi, a 14th-century Arab philosopher and astronomer from Damascus. Another was Qamar al-Din Khan, a 17th-century Mughal nobleman and military commander who served under the emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
In the realm of literature, Qamar Iqbal was a renowned Urdu poet and writer who lived in the 20th century (1924-2002). Her poetry explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition.
Another prominent figure with the name Qamar was Qamar Zaman, a Pakistani cricketer who played for the national team in the 1970s and 1980s. He was known for his aggressive batting style and was part of the Pakistani team that won the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
Qamar Javed Bajwa, born in 1960, is a retired four-star general who served as the 16th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 2016 to 2022, playing a significant role in the country's military affairs during his tenure.
People
Qamar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Qamar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Qamar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Qamar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 481 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Qamar 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 712,587 US residents.
Is Qamar a common name?
We classify Qamar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 485 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Qamar most popular?
The single biggest year for Qamar was 2024, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Qamar is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Qamar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,109 people with the name Qamar, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,518 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 Qamar 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 Qamar?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Qamar on both sides of the split. Of the 1,108 people counted with this name, 417 were male (37.6%) and 691 were female (62.4%). 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 Qamar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Qamar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 51.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.4%) and White (20.6%). 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 Qamar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Qamar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.1% (567 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 Qamar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Qamar a female name?
Yes, 66.0% of people registered as Qamar 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 Qamar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Qamar 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 Qamar 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 Qamar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.