Amare
A name of Ethiopian origin meaning "truth", "love", or "grace".
Name Census estimates that about 6,414 living Americans carry the first name Amare. It is a predominantly male name (94.1% of registrations). The average person named Amare today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amare births was 2011 (665 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amare. 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 Amare with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Amare is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,438 Americans
Peak year
2011
665 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,071
Tracked since 1997
Census
Amare in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,891 people with the first name Amare, which placed it at #3,978 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
#3,978
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,891 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amare
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amare is Black at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.8%) and Two or More Races (11.4%). 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 Amare 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 Amare at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.6% · 3,503
- Hispanic or Latino12.8% · 628
- Two or more races11.4% · 556
- White2.4% · 115
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Amare
Amare leans heavily male at 94.1% of total registrations, but 380 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Amare as a male name
- Ranked #2,071 in 2024
- 72 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (639 births)
Amare as a female name
- Ranked #10,291 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amare leans strongly male. 4,563 people counted with this name were male (93.4%), compared with 324 female bearers (6.6%).
Popularity
Amare: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amare from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,585 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amare 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 Amare during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amares live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Amare, while Rhode Island, Iowa, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 138 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amare
The name Amare has its origins in the Amharic language, which is one of the Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia. Amharic is the official working language of Ethiopia and is believed to have originated sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries.
Amare is derived from the Amharic word "amar," which means "grace" or "blessing." The name carries a positive and uplifting connotation, reflecting the idea of being favored or gifted with good fortune and divine grace.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Amare can be traced back to the medieval period in Ethiopia, where it was commonly given to children as a way of expressing hope and gratitude for the blessings bestowed upon them.
One of the earliest historical figures to bear the name Amare was Amare Neway, an Ethiopian nobleman and military leader who lived in the late 16th century. He played a significant role in defending the Ethiopian Empire against the Ottoman Empire's invasions during the Adal War.
Another notable figure named Amare was Amare Tekle, an Ethiopian poet and scholar who lived in the 18th century. He was renowned for his contributions to Amharic literature and his works exploring religious and philosophical themes.
In more recent history, Amare Worku was an Ethiopian Olympic athlete who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. He participated in the marathon event and finished in 11th place.
Amare Stoudemire, a former professional basketball player from the United States, is perhaps one of the most famous individuals to bear the name Amare. He was born in 1982 and had a successful career in the NBA, playing for teams such as the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks.
Amare Gebru, born in 1964, is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who won the Rotterdam Marathon in 1991 and 1993, setting a course record in the latter year.
While the name Amare has its roots in the Ethiopian culture and language, it has gained popularity and recognition around the world, transcending cultural boundaries and serving as a reminder of the universal desire for grace and blessings in one's life.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Amare
People
Amare + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amare 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
Amare: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amare?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amare 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 53,438 US residents.
Is Amare a common name?
We classify Amare as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,471 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amare most popular?
The single biggest year for Amare was 2011, when 665 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amare is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amare in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,891 people with the name Amare, or 1.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,978 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 Amare 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 Amare?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amare leans strongly male. 4,563 people counted with this name were male (93.4%), compared with 324 female bearers (6.6%). 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 Amare?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amare is Black at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.8%) and Two or More Races (11.4%). 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 Amare most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Amare in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (3,503 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 Amare in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amare a male name?
Yes, 94.1% of people registered as Amare 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 Amare still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amare 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 Amare 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 share the name Amare?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.