Shamar
A masculine given name of Arabic origin meaning "guardian" or "protector".
Name Census estimates that about 6,241 living Americans carry the first name Shamar. It is a predominantly male name (96.1% of registrations). The average person named Shamar today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shamar births was 2000 (389 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shamar. 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
- • Although Shamar is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 249 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
6.2K
~ 1 in 54,920 Americans
Peak year
2000
389 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,312
Tracked since 1969
Gender
Gender distribution for Shamar
Shamar leans heavily male at 96.1% of total registrations, but 249 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shamar as a male name
- Ranked #3,312 in 2024
- 36 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (383 births)
Shamar as a female name
- Ranked #14,890 in 2006
- 7 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1983 (14 births)
Popularity
Shamar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shamar from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,563 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shamar 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 Shamar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shamars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. New York, Florida, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Shamar, while Oklahoma, Delaware, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 169 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shamar
The name Shamar is of Hebrew origin, derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "shomer," which means "to guard" or "to keep watch." It is believed to have been used as a name in ancient Judea and Israel during the biblical era.
In the Hebrew Bible, the word "shomer" appears multiple times, often referring to watchmen or guardians. For instance, in the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet is referred to as a "watchman" (shomer) for the house of Israel, tasked with warning the people of impending danger.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shamar is found in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the name of a son of Reuben, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. This Shamar lived around the 17th century BCE.
Another notable figure in history with the name Shamar was Shamar son of Hoshai, a high-ranking official during the reign of King David in the 10th century BCE. He is mentioned in the Book of 1 Chronicles as being in charge of vineyards.
In the 9th century BCE, Shamar son of Amri was a military commander who served under King Jehoram of Judah. He is mentioned in the Book of 2 Chronicles for his role in defending the city of Ramoth-Gilead.
During the Islamic Golden Age, there was a famous Arab mathematician and astronomer named Shamar al-Bukhari, who lived in the 9th century CE. He is known for his contributions to the development of trigonometry and his work on the calculation of the obliquity of the ecliptic.
In more recent history, one of the most notable figures with the name Shamar was Shamar Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist lama and teacher who lived from 1940 to 2016. He played a significant role in the preservation and transmission of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
People
Shamar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shamar 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
Shamar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shamar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shamar 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 54,920 US residents.
Is Shamar a common name?
We classify Shamar as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,369 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shamar most popular?
The single biggest year for Shamar was 2000, when 389 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shamar is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shamar a male name?
Yes, 96.1% of people registered as Shamar 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.