Amiri
A name of Arabic origin meaning "belonging to an emir or prince".
Name Census estimates that about 4,151 living Americans carry the first name Amiri. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 67.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Amiri today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amiri births was 2023 (911 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amiri. 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 Amiri with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Amiri is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 82,572 Americans
Peak year
2023
911 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#533
Tracked since 1971
Census
Amiri in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 731 people with the first name Amiri, which placed it at #15,661 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
#15,661
National first-name rank
People counted
731
731 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amiri
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amiri is Black at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.0%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Amiri 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 Amiri at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.6% · 553
- Two or more races10.0% · 73
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 62
- White3.6% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Amiri
Amiri is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,184 total registrations, 2,830 (67.6%) were male and 1,354 (32.4%) were female.
Amiri as a male name
- Ranked #533 in 2024
- 556 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (595 births)
Amiri as a female name
- Ranked #878 in 2024
- 306 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (316 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Amiri on both sides of the split. Of the 734 people counted with this name, 556 were male (75.7%) and 178 were female (24.3%).
Popularity
Amiri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amiri from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 3,378 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amiri 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 Amiri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amiris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Amiri, while New Mexico, District of Columbia, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amiri
The name Amiri has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, with a history that can be traced back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic word "amir," which means "prince" or "ruler." The name carries connotations of leadership, authority, and nobility.
In the early years of Islam, the term "amir" was used to refer to military commanders or governors appointed by the caliphs, the supreme religious and political leaders of the Islamic empire. As such, the name Amiri was often given to sons of prominent families or those with aspirations of leadership and authority.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Amiri can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab historian and scholar, Al-Tabari, who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries AD. He documented the lives of several individuals with the name Amiri, including a prominent military commander who served under the Abbasid Caliphate.
Throughout history, the name Amiri has been borne by a number of influential figures. One notable example is Amiri Baraka (1934-2014), an American poet, playwright, and activist who was a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. His work addressed issues of race, social justice, and political activism.
Another historical figure with the name Amiri was Amiri Vahid (1898-1947), an Iranian diplomat and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iran from 1946 to 1947. He played a significant role in the negotiations leading to the establishment of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, now known as BP.
In the realm of literature, Amiri Gersao (1936-2011) was a renowned Mozambican poet and writer who is considered one of the most influential figures in the development of modern African literature. His works explored themes of colonialism, identity, and the struggle for independence.
The name Amiri also has a presence in the world of sports. Amiri Baraka Jr. (born 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the Denver Nuggets and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Amiri ibn al-Husayn al-Khwarizmi (780-850 AD) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer who made significant contributions to the fields of algebra and geography. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the medieval period and is credited with introducing the concept of the algorithm, derived from his name.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Amiri, a name that carries a rich cultural heritage and associations with leadership, authority, and intellectual pursuits.
People
Amiri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amiri 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
Amiri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amiri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amiri 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 82,572 US residents.
Is Amiri a common name?
We classify Amiri as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,184 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amiri most popular?
The single biggest year for Amiri was 2023, when 911 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amiri is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Amiri in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 731 people with the name Amiri, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,661 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 Amiri 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 Amiri?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Amiri on both sides of the split. Of the 734 people counted with this name, 556 were male (75.7%) and 178 were female (24.3%). 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 Amiri?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amiri is Black at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.0%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Amiri most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Amiri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.6% (553 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 Amiri in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amiri a male name?
Yes, 67.6% of people registered as Amiri 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 Amiri still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amiri 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 Amiri 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 have Amiri as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.