Samar
A name of Arabic origin meaning "evening conversing with friends".
Name Census estimates that about 2,253 living Americans carry the first name Samar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Samar today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samar births was 2021 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samar. 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.
Key insights
- • Samar was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Samar sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Samar is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 152,132 Americans
Peak year
2021
117 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,299
Tracked since 1972
Gender
Gender distribution for Samar
Samar is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,296 total registrations, 1,218 (53.0%) were male and 1,078 (47.0%) were female.
Samar as a male name
- Ranked #2,299 in 2024
- 62 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (92 births)
Samar as a female name
- Ranked #4,989 in 2024
- 27 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (33 births)
Popularity
Samar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 820 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Samar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samar 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 Samar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Samar, while North Carolina, Connecticut, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Samar
The name Samar has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "samara," which means "battlefield" or "war." In Hindu mythology, Samar is also the name of one of the sons of Lord Krishna.
Samar was a popular name among ancient Hindu warriors and rulers. It is found in several ancient Indian texts, including the Mahabharata and the Puranas. The earliest recorded use of the name Samar can be traced back to the 3rd century BCE, when it was mentioned in inscriptions from the Maurya Empire.
In the medieval period, Samar was a common name among the Rajput warriors of North India. Several Rajput kings and princes bore this name, including Samar Singh, the ruler of the Mewar kingdom in the 16th century, and Samar Singh II, the ruler of Bikaner in the 18th century.
Outside of India, the name Samar has been used by various historical figures. One notable example is Samar al-Mulk, a Persian vizier who served under the Seljuk ruler Malik Shah I in the 11th century. Another is Samar Khan, a Mughal governor who ruled over the province of Bihar in the 17th century.
In the 20th century, several notable individuals have borne the name Samar. These include Samar Sen, an Indian philosopher and writer who lived from 1916 to 1987, and Samar Mubarakmand, a Pakistani nuclear scientist who played a key role in the country's nuclear program.
Other historical figures with the name Samar include Samar Amin, an Egyptian diplomat who served as the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States from 1983 to 1991, and Samar Safi, a Lebanese writer and activist who was born in 1957.
People
Samar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Samar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,253 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samar 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 152,132 US residents.
Is Samar a common name?
We classify Samar as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,296 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samar most popular?
The single biggest year for Samar was 2021, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samar is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Samar a male name?
Yes, 53.0% of people registered as Samar 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.