Nizar
Masculine given name of Arabic origin meaning "one who is victorious".
Name Census estimates that about 381 living Americans carry the first name Nizar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nizar today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nizar births was 2017 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nizar. 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 Nizar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
381
~ 1 in 899,618 Americans
Peak year
2017
26 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,577
Tracked since 1979
Census
Nizar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,150 people with the first name Nizar, which placed it at #11,260 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
#11,260
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,150 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nizar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nizar is White at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.9%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Nizar 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 Nizar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.7% · 744
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.9% · 298
- Black or African American4.1% · 47
- Two or more races3.5% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Nizar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nizar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 167 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nizar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nizar 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 Nizar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nizars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, California recorded the most babies named Nizar, while California, Massachusetts, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nizar
The name Nizar has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Arabic root word "nazara," which means "to see" or "to look." This suggests that the name may have been associated with keen observation, insight, or foresight.
Nizar was a common name among the Arab nobility and scholars during the golden age of Islamic civilization, particularly in regions like Persia, Mesopotamia, and the Levant. It is believed to have been used as early as the 7th century CE, during the time of the Rashidun Caliphate.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Nizar can be found in the historical chronicles of the Abbasid Caliphate. Nizar al-Qummi, born in 849 CE, was a prominent Shia scholar and theologian from the city of Qom, renowned for his contributions to Islamic jurisprudence and hadith literature.
In the 11th century, Nizar ibn Maad al-Azdi, a renowned Arab poet and writer, gained fame for his exceptional literary works. His poetry collection, known as the "Diwan," showcased his mastery of language and poetic imagery, earning him a revered status among Arabic literary circles.
During the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria, which ruled from the 13th to the 16th centuries, the name Nizar was borne by several influential figures. Nizar al-Din al-Nabulusi, born in 1285 CE, was a prominent Sufi scholar and poet who left a lasting impact on the spiritual and intellectual landscape of the region.
In more recent history, Nizar Qabbani, a Syrian diplomat, poet, and publisher, who lived from 1923 to 1998, gained international acclaim for his romantic and political poetry. His works, which often celebrated love, feminism, and Arab nationalism, resonated with readers across the Middle East and beyond.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who carried the name Nizar throughout history, each leaving their mark in fields such as literature, scholarship, and poetry. The name's enduring legacy reflects its deep-rooted ties to the rich cultural tapestry of the Arab world and its intellectual traditions.
People
Nizar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nizar 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
Nizar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nizar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nizar 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 899,618 US residents.
Is Nizar a common name?
We classify Nizar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 386 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nizar most popular?
The single biggest year for Nizar was 2017, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nizar is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nizar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,150 people with the name Nizar, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,260 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 Nizar 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 Nizar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nizar appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,160 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Nizar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nizar is White at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.9%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Nizar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nizar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.7% (744 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 Nizar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nizar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nizar 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 Nizar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nizar 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 Nizar 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 Nizar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.