Amariyah
Feminine name derived from Arabic meaning "eternal princess" or "princess forever".
Name Census estimates that about 773 living Americans carry the first name Amariyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Amariyah today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amariyah births was 2016 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amariyah. 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 Amariyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
773
~ 1 in 443,408 Americans
Peak year
2016
48 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,811
Tracked since 2001
Census
Amariyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 424 people with the first name Amariyah, which placed it at #23,170 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
#23,170
National first-name rank
People counted
424
424 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amariyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amariyah is Black at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Two or More Races (8.0%). 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 Amariyah 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 Amariyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.5% · 320
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 48
- Two or more races8.0% · 34
- White5.0% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Amariyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amariyah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 370 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Amariyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amariyah 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 Amariyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amariyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Amariyah, while Tennessee, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amariyah
The name Amariyah is a relatively modern spelling variation of the Hebrew name Amariah, which means "promised by God" or "the Lord has promised." It is a combination of the Hebrew words "amar," meaning "to say" or "to promise," and the suffix "-yah," which refers to the Hebrew God, Yahweh.
The name Amariah can be traced back to ancient Hebrew texts, including the Bible. In the Book of Ezra, Amariah is mentioned as the name of a priest who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BCE. Another Amariah is listed among the ancestors of the prophet Zephaniah in the Book of Zephaniah.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Amariah can be found in various ancient Hebrew manuscripts and inscriptions dating back to the 6th century BCE. However, the modern spelling variation, Amariyah, is a more recent development, likely emerging in the 20th century as a stylized or feminized version of the traditional name.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Amariah or its variations. One of the earliest was Amariah, the son of Meraioth, who was a high priest in the Temple of Jerusalem around the 6th century BCE, as recorded in the Book of Chronicles.
Another prominent figure was Amariah ben Pethahiah, a Jewish scribe who lived in the 9th century CE and was responsible for transcribing and preserving various biblical texts and commentaries.
In more recent times, Amariah Hillel Ben-Shem (1888-1972) was an Israeli linguist and educator who played a significant role in the revival of the Hebrew language in the early 20th century.
Amariah Toldano (1922-2010) was an Iraqi-Israeli linguist and researcher who specialized in the study of Arabic and Aramaic dialects spoken by Jewish communities in the Middle East.
Amariah Zangvill (1857-1926) was a British writer and playwright of Jewish descent, best known for his novel "Children of the Ghetto," which depicted the lives of Jewish immigrants in London's East End.
While the name Amariyah has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries, its roots can be traced back to ancient Hebrew traditions and religious texts, reflecting its enduring significance and historical relevance.
People
Amariyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amariyah 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
Amariyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amariyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 773 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amariyah 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 443,408 US residents.
Is Amariyah a common name?
We classify Amariyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 780 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amariyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Amariyah was 2016, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amariyah is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amariyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 424 people with the name Amariyah, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,170 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 Amariyah 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 Amariyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amariyah leans strongly female. 420 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 6 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Amariyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amariyah is Black at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Two or More Races (8.0%). 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 Amariyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Amariyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (320 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 Amariyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amariyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amariyah in the SSA data are female. 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 Amariyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amariyah 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 Amariyah 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 Amariyah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.