Lemar
A masculine name of French origin meaning "the lively one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,426 living Americans carry the first name Lemar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lemar today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lemar births was 1979 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lemar. 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 Lemar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,361 Americans
Peak year
1979
55 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,673
Tracked since 1900
Census
Lemar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,131 people with the first name Lemar, which placed it at #11,373 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
#11,373
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,131 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lemar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lemar is Black at 71.5%. The next largest groups are White (10.1%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Lemar 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 Lemar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.5% · 809
- White10.1% · 114
- Two or more races6.8% · 77
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 68
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 13
Popularity
Lemar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lemar from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 401 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
Lemar 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 Lemar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lemars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Lemar, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lemar
The name Lemar is a modern variant of the French name Lemaire, which is derived from the Old French word "le mair" meaning "the mayor" or "the chief magistrate." The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages in France, where it was initially used as a surname for individuals who held the position of mayor or a similar administrative role.
In its earliest recorded use, the name Lemar appeared in various medieval French documents and records, often referring to local officials or prominent figures in various towns and villages across France. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Lemar de Boulogne, who served as the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the 13th century.
While the name Lemar was primarily used as a surname in its early history, over time it began to be adopted as a given name as well. This transition likely occurred as a result of the name's association with positions of authority and leadership within local communities.
One of the earliest recorded individuals to bear Lemar as a first name was Lemar Duval, a French merchant and trader who lived in the 16th century. Duval was known for his successful business ventures and his involvement in the establishment of trade routes between France and other European countries.
Another notable figure with the name Lemar was Lemar Descartes, a French philosopher and mathematician who lived from 1596 to 1650. Descartes is considered one of the most important thinkers of the 17th century and is best known for his philosophical work "Meditations on First Philosophy," which explored the nature of reality and human existence.
In the 18th century, Lemar Duplantier was a French military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. He fought alongside the American colonists against the British forces and was known for his bravery and strategic leadership on the battlefield.
Moving into the 19th century, Lemar Guizot was a French historian and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of France from 1840 to 1848. He was a prominent figure in the July Revolution of 1830 and played a significant role in shaping the political landscape of France during that period.
Finally, in the 20th century, Lemar Durand was a French artist and sculptor known for his abstract and modernist works. He was a member of the Cubist movement and his pieces were exhibited in various galleries and museums across Europe and the United States.
People
Lemar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lemar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lemar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lemar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,426 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lemar 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 240,361 US residents.
Is Lemar a common name?
We classify Lemar as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,881 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lemar most popular?
The single biggest year for Lemar was 1979, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lemar is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lemar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,131 people with the name Lemar, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,373 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 Lemar 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 Lemar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lemar leans strongly male. 1,081 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 51 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Lemar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lemar is Black at 71.5%. The next largest groups are White (10.1%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Lemar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lemar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.5% (809 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 Lemar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lemar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lemar 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 Lemar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lemar 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 Lemar 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 Lemar?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Lemar at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.