Nezar
An Arabic name meaning "sprout", "shoot", or "plant".
Name Census estimates that about 194 living Americans carry the first name Nezar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nezar today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nezar births was 2006 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nezar. 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 Nezar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
194
~ 1 in 1,766,775 Americans
Peak year
2006
12 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,601
Tracked since 1977
Census
Nezar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 304 people with the first name Nezar, which placed it at #29,229 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
#29,229
National first-name rank
People counted
304
304 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nezar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nezar is White at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.3%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Nezar 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 Nezar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.9% · 255
- Black or African American5.3% · 16
- Two or more races5.3% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 6
Popularity
Nezar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nezar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 82 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nezar 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 Nezar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nezars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nezar
The name Nezar is an Arabic name with its roots in the Semitic language family. It originated in the Middle East, primarily in the Arabian Peninsula, during the medieval Islamic era.
Nezar is derived from the Arabic word "nazara," which means "to look" or "to observe." This suggests that the name may have been associated with qualities such as vigilance, perception, or insight. It is also believed to be related to the Arabic word "nazir," which means "watchman" or "guardian."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nezar can be found in the writings of medieval Arabic scholars and historians. For example, the 10th-century Arabic historian and writer Al-Mas'udi mentioned a person named Nezar in his work "Muruj al-Dhahab" (Meadows of Gold).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nezar. One of the most famous was Nezar al-Qabbani (1923-1998), a renowned Syrian poet and diplomat who was considered one of the greatest Arab poets of the 20th century. His poetic works explored themes of love, freedom, and political struggle.
Another prominent figure was Nezar Hindawi (born 1944), a Jordanian-born Syrian intelligence officer who was convicted for his role in the 1986 Hindawi affair, a failed attempt to bomb an Israeli civilian aircraft.
In the field of academia, Nezar AlSayyad (born 1953) is a renowned Egyptian-American architect, urban planner, and scholar who has made significant contributions to the study of urban development and informal settlements.
Nezar Younis (born 1954) is a Palestinian-American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded and served as the CEO of Sanchez Computer Associates, a pioneering computer services company in the United States.
Nezar Ghandhi (born 1965) is a Canadian comedian, actor, and writer of Lebanese descent, known for his stand-up comedy and appearances in various television shows and films.
While these are some notable examples, the name Nezar has been used by individuals from various walks of life throughout the centuries, reflecting its enduring presence in the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Nezar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nezar 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
Nezar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nezar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 194 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nezar 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 1,766,775 US residents.
Is Nezar a common name?
We classify Nezar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 197 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nezar most popular?
The single biggest year for Nezar was 2006, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nezar is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nezar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 304 people with the name Nezar, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,229 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 Nezar 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 Nezar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nezar leans strongly male. 300 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Nezar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nezar is White at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.3%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Nezar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nezar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.9% (255 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 Nezar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nezar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nezar 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 Nezar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nezar 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 Nezar 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 Nezar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.