Jemar
Masculine name of Arabic origin broadly meaning "one who possesses great beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 474 living Americans carry the first name Jemar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jemar today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jemar births was 1980 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jemar. 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
474
~ 1 in 723,110 Americans
Peak year
1980
21 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,069
Tracked since 1973
Census
Jemar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 427 people with the first name Jemar, which placed it at #23,071 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
#23,071
National first-name rank
People counted
427
427 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jemar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jemar is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.1%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Jemar 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 Jemar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.2% · 334
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.1% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 28
- Two or more races3.5% · 15
- White1.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Jemar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jemar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 156 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jemar 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 Jemar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jemars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jemar
The given name Jemar is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language. It is a variation of the name Jamal, which means "beauty" or "camel" in Arabic. The name Jemar likely emerged during the medieval period in regions where Arabic was widely spoken, such as the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jemar can be found in historical texts from the 12th century, where it is mentioned as the name of a prominent scholar and poet from Al-Andalus (present-day Spain and Portugal). This individual, Jemar ibn al-Qasim, was renowned for his contributions to literature and philosophy during the Golden Age of Islamic civilization.
In the 14th century, there is a record of a Jemar ibn Yahya, who was a renowned calligrapher and artist from the city of Damascus. His intricate calligraphic works adorned many historic buildings and manuscripts of that era, and he was highly praised for his mastery of the art form.
During the Ottoman Empire, which spanned from the 13th to the 20th centuries, the name Jemar was relatively common among the ruling elite and scholarly circles. One notable figure was Jemar al-Rumi, a 16th-century poet and mystic from present-day Turkey, whose works were widely celebrated for their depth and spiritual insights.
In the 19th century, a prominent figure named Jemar al-Khayri emerged as a leading reformist and intellectual in the Arab world. He advocated for educational and social reforms, and his writings had a significant impact on the Arab Renaissance movement of that era.
Another historical figure with the name Jemar was Jemar ibn Abdallah, a 10th-century explorer and traveler from the city of Cordoba (present-day Spain). His detailed accounts of his journeys across the Mediterranean and parts of Asia provided valuable insights into the cultures and civilizations of that time.
It is worth noting that while the name Jemar has its roots in the Arabic language, it has been adopted and adapted in various cultures throughout history, leading to slight variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Jemar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jemar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jemar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jemar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 474 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jemar 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 723,110 US residents.
Is Jemar a common name?
We classify Jemar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jemar most popular?
The single biggest year for Jemar was 1980, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jemar is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jemar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 427 people with the name Jemar, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,071 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 Jemar 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 Jemar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jemar leans strongly male. 422 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 8 female bearers (1.9%). 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 Jemar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jemar is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.1%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Jemar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jemar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (334 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 Jemar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jemar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jemar 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 Jemar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jemar 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 Jemar 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 called Jemar?
You can see how many people have the name Jemar on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.