Amity
A feminine name deriving from the Latin word for "friendship".
Name Census estimates that about 2,022 living Americans carry the first name Amity. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Amity today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Amity births was 1979 (119 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Amity. 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 Amity with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 169,513 Americans
Peak year
1979
119 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,045
Tracked since 1960
Census
Amity in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,730 people with the first name Amity, which placed it at #8,390 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
#8,390
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,730 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Amity
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amity is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Amity 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 Amity at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.3% · 1,389
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 152
- Two or more races4.7% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 61
- Black or African American2.0% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 12
Popularity
Amity: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Amity 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 638 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Amity remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Amity 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 Amity during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Amitys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Amity, while Virginia, Colorado, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Amity
The name Amity is derived from the Latin word "amicitia", meaning friendship or goodwill. It originated during the ancient Roman era as a way to express the concept of mutual understanding and harmony between people or nations. The earliest known use of the name dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was used as a symbolic representation of peaceful relations.
In the 4th century, the name Amity appeared in religious texts and writings of early Christian scholars, who often used it as a metaphor for the bond between believers and their faith. One notable example is Saint Amitius, a 4th-century bishop of Auxerre in France, who was known for his efforts in promoting unity and reconciliation within the church.
During the Middle Ages, the name Amity became associated with the concept of chivalry and courtly love. It was often used in medieval poetry and literature as a way to symbolize the virtues of loyalty, honor, and platonic love between knights and their ladies.
In the 16th century, Amity Ville was the name given to a settlement established by English colonists in present-day New York, reflecting the desire for friendly relations with the indigenous population. This settlement later became known as Amityville, and the name has since gained notoriety due to its association with the infamous "Amityville Horror" case.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Amity, including:
1. Amity Shlaes (born 1960), an American author and columnist known for her works on economics and politics.
2. Amity Gaige (born 1974), an American writer and author of various novels and short stories.
3. Amity Brock (1926-2003), an American singer and actress who appeared in several Broadway productions and films.
4. Amity Dry (born 1979), an Australian cricketer who played for the Australian women's national team.
5. Amity Shales (1785-1853), an American educator and advocate for women's education, who founded the Troy Female Seminary in New York.
While the name Amity is not as common today as it once was, it continues to represent the ideals of friendship, goodwill, and peaceful coexistence, serving as a reminder of the importance of fostering harmony and understanding among people and nations.
People
Amity + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Amity 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
Amity: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Amity?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,022 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Amity 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 169,513 US residents.
Is Amity a common name?
We classify Amity as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,126 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Amity most popular?
The single biggest year for Amity was 1979, when 119 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Amity 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 Amity in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,730 people with the name Amity, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,390 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 Amity 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 Amity?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Amity appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,728 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Amity?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Amity is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Amity most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Amity in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.3% (1,389 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 Amity in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Amity a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Amity 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 Amity still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Amity 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 Amity 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 common is the name Amity?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.