Amador
Meaning "one who loves" or "lover" of Portuguese origin.
Name Census estimates that about 2,489 living Americans carry the first name Amador. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Amador today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amador births was 1992 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amador. 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
2.5K
~ 1 in 137,708 Americans
Peak year
1992
52 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,418
Tracked since 1908
Census
Amador in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,492 people with the first name Amador, which placed it at #4,233 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
#4,233
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,492 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amador
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amador is Hispanic at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.1%) and White (1.9%). 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 Amador 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 Amador at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.2% · 4,141
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 229
- White1.9% · 84
- Two or more races0.3% · 14
- Black or African American0.3% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 11
Popularity
Amador: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amador from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 425 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amador 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 Amador during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amadors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Amador, while New Mexico, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 450 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amador
The given name Amador has its origins in the Late Latin word "amator," which means "lover." This name likely emerged during the Middle Ages in regions where Latin was spoken, such as parts of the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal). The name may have been derived from the Latin word "amare," meaning "to love," with the suffix "-dor" indicating the person who performs the action.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Amador can be found in the 12th century epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," which tells the story of the Castilian knight El Cid Campeador. In this work, Amador is mentioned as the name of one of El Cid's soldiers. This suggests that the name was already in use among Spanish Christians during the Reconquista period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Amador. One such figure was Amador Arranz, a Spanish Dominican friar and philosopher who lived in the 16th century. He was known for his works on logic and metaphysics.
Another prominent individual named Amador was Amador de los Ríos y Fernández-Villalta, a 19th-century Spanish historian and archaeologist (1818-1878). He made significant contributions to the study of Spanish art and architecture, particularly in his works on the Alhambra palace in Granada.
In the realm of literature, Amador Vega (1901-1965) was a prominent Peruvian poet and essayist. He was a member of the avant-garde literary movement known as "vanguardismo" and is known for his works that explored themes of indigenous cultures and social justice.
Amador Bendayán (1887-1963) was a prominent Panamanian composer and musician. He is celebrated for his contributions to the development of Panamanian music, particularly in the promotion of popular genres such as the tamborito and the mejorana.
Amador Bueno (1938-1992) was a Mexican actor and comedian known for his work in film and television. He was particularly renowned for his roles in comedy films and his ability to portray a wide range of characters with humor and wit.
People
Amador + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amador 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
Amador: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amador?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,489 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amador 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 137,708 US residents.
Is Amador a common name?
We classify Amador as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,348 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amador most popular?
The single biggest year for Amador was 1992, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amador is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amador in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,492 people with the name Amador, or 1.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,233 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 Amador 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 Amador?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amador appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,496 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Amador?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amador is Hispanic at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.1%) and White (1.9%). 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 Amador most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Amador in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (4,141 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 Amador in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amador a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amador 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 Amador still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amador 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 Amador 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 Americans are named Amador?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.