Akbar
An Arabic name meaning "most great" or "greatest."
Name Census estimates that about 561 living Americans carry the first name Akbar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Akbar today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akbar births was 1975 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akbar. 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 Akbar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
561
~ 1 in 610,970 Americans
Peak year
1975
21 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,654
Tracked since 1960
Census
Akbar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,695 people with the first name Akbar, which placed it at #8,545 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
#8,545
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,695 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Akbar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akbar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.9%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Akbar 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 Akbar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander50.0% · 848
- White22.9% · 389
- Black or African American15.6% · 265
- Two or more races9.0% · 152
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
Popularity
Akbar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akbar from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 132 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Akbar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akbar 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 Akbar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akbars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Akbar
The name Akbar originates from the Arabic language and means "the greatest" or "very great." It has its roots in the Arabic word "kabir," which means "great" or "elder." This name gained widespread recognition during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, who ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1556 to 1605.
Akbar was born in 1542 and was the third and arguably the greatest ruler of the Mughal Empire. His real name was Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential and renowned rulers in Indian history. Akbar was known for his religious tolerance, administrative reforms, and patronage of art and culture.
The name Akbar has been mentioned in various historical texts and records from the medieval period, particularly those related to the Mughal Empire. It has also been used in Islamic literature and texts, reflecting its Arabic origin and connection to Islamic culture.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Akbar can be found in the historical chronicles of the Mughal Empire, such as the Akbarnama, which was written by Akbar's court historian, Abul Fazl. This work provides a detailed account of Akbar's life and reign.
In addition to Akbar the Great, several other notable historical figures have borne the name Akbar. These include:
1. Akbar Khan (1816-1845), an Afghan military commander who fought against British forces during the First Anglo-Afghan War.
2. Akbar Khan Bugti (1944-2006), a former governor of Balochistan province in Pakistan and a prominent Baloch nationalist leader.
3. Akbar Shah II (1760-1837), the penultimate Mughal Emperor who ruled from 1806 to 1837.
4. Akbar Padamsee (1928-2020), an Indian painter and sculptor who was a pioneer of modern Indian art.
5. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1934-2017), an influential Iranian politician who served as the fourth President of Iran from 1989 to 1997.
These individuals have all left their mark on history, whether through their political or military achievements, artistic contributions, or religious and cultural influence, reflecting the significance and enduring legacy of the name Akbar.
People
Akbar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akbar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Akbar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akbar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 561 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akbar 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 610,970 US residents.
Is Akbar a common name?
We classify Akbar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 584 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akbar most popular?
The single biggest year for Akbar was 1975, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akbar is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Akbar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,695 people with the name Akbar, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,545 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 Akbar 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 Akbar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Akbar appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,689 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Akbar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akbar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.9%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Akbar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Akbar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (848 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 Akbar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akbar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akbar 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.
Is Akbar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akbar 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 Akbar 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 are named Akbar?
Find out how many people have the name Akbar on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.