Nazaire
A French masculine name derived from Nazarius, meaning "from Nazareth".
Name Census estimates that about 214 living Americans carry the first name Nazaire. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nazaire today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nazaire births was 2018 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nazaire. 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
214
~ 1 in 1,601,656 Americans
Peak year
2018
16 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,072
Tracked since 1997
Census
Nazaire in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 204 people with the first name Nazaire, which placed it at #37,948 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
#37,948
National first-name rank
People counted
204
204 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nazaire
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nazaire is Black at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.8%) and White (4.9%). 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 Nazaire 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 Nazaire at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.4% · 162
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 20
- White4.9% · 10
- Two or more races4.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2
Popularity
Nazaire: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nazaire from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 94 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nazaire remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nazaire 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 Nazaire during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nazaires live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nazaire
Nazaire is a French given name derived from the Latin name Nazarius, which itself comes from the root word "Nazareus" meaning "of Nazareth". The name has its origins in early Christianity and is associated with the town of Nazareth in ancient Galilee, where Jesus Christ lived during his youth.
The name Nazarius was initially used to refer to early Christian martyrs and saints from Nazareth or those who were followers of Jesus. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Saint Nazarius, a Roman soldier who was martyred in the 3rd century AD for his Christian faith. He and his companion Saint Celsus are venerated as patron saints of Trier, Germany.
In the Middle Ages, the name Nazaire became more widespread across Europe, particularly in France and other parts of Western Europe. It was often used in religious contexts or among devout Christian families who wanted to honor the name's associations with early Christianity and the life of Jesus Christ.
One notable historical figure with the name Nazaire was Nazaire Soustra, a French composer and organist who lived from 1574 to 1635. He served as the organist at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris and composed numerous sacred and secular works during the Renaissance period.
Another individual of note was Nazaire Pelouze (1786-1867), a French chemist who made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry. He is best known for his work on the composition of ethers and for developing the Pelouze tube, a piece of laboratory glassware used in gas analysis.
In the world of literature, Nazaire Doucet (1670-1748) was a French priest and author who wrote several religious works, including a biography of Saint Francis de Sales.
Moving to more recent times, Nazaire Biron (1888-1918) was a Canadian soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valor in the British Empire, for his actions during World War I.
Finally, Nazaire Pitre (1924-2008) was a Canadian politician who served as a member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Charlevoix from 1968 to 1984.
While the name Nazaire has its roots in early Christian history and was more commonly used in past centuries, it continues to be a given name used in various parts of the world, particularly in French-speaking regions and countries with strong historical ties to France or Christianity.
People
Nazaire + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nazaire as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nazaire: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nazaire?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nazaire 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 1,601,656 US residents.
Is Nazaire a common name?
We classify Nazaire as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 216 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nazaire most popular?
The single biggest year for Nazaire was 2018, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nazaire 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 Nazaire in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 204 people with the name Nazaire, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,948 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 Nazaire 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 Nazaire?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nazaire leans strongly male. 199 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 5 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Nazaire?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nazaire is Black at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.8%) and White (4.9%). 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 Nazaire most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nazaire in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (162 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 Nazaire in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nazaire a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nazaire 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 Nazaire still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nazaire 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 Nazaire 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 share the name Nazaire?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.