Omer
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "grain sheaf" or "servant".
Name Census estimates that about 3,635 living Americans carry the first name Omer. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Omer today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Omer births was 1918 (239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Omer. 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 Omer with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Omer is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 67 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 94,293 Americans
Peak year
1918
239 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,105
Tracked since 1880
Census
Omer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,771 people with the first name Omer, which placed it at #3,567 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
#3,567
National first-name rank
People counted
5.8K
5,771 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Omer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Omer is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.5%) and Black (13.7%). 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 Omer 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 Omer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.2% · 3,648
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.5% · 895
- Black or African American13.7% · 788
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 274
- Two or more races2.7% · 155
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Omer
Out of the 8,851 babies given the name Omer since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Omer as a male name
- Ranked #2,105 in 2024
- 71 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (234 births)
Omer as a female name
- Ranked #14,712 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1923 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Omer leans strongly male. 5,681 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 89 female bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Omer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Omer from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,816 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Omer 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 Omer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Omers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. Kentucky, New York, Indiana recorded the most babies named Omer, while Maryland, Alabama, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 133 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Omer
The name Omer has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "Umr," which means "life" or "age." The name first appeared in the Middle East region during the early Islamic era, around the 7th century AD.
In Islamic tradition, the name Omer is closely associated with the second Caliph of Islam, Umar ibn al-Khattab (584-644 AD). He was a prominent companion of Prophet Muhammad and played a significant role in the expansion of the Islamic empire during his caliphate from 634 to 644 AD.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Omer can be found in the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. The name is mentioned in the context of the story of Maryam (Mary) and her son, Prophet Isa (Jesus).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Omer. One of the most famous was Omer Khayyam (1048-1131 AD), a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He is best known for his scientific achievements and his collection of quatrains, known as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Another prominent figure was Omer Pasha (1806-1871), a Ottoman military leader and statesman who served as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1856. He played a crucial role in the Crimean War and implemented significant reforms in the Ottoman military.
In more recent times, Omer M. Mozaffar (1923-2001) was a renowned Pakistani physicist and educator. He made significant contributions to the fields of theoretical physics and nuclear physics and served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Karachi.
Omer Sharif (1955-2022) was a legendary Pakistani comedian, actor, and satirist. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest comedians in South Asia and received numerous awards and accolades for his work in the entertainment industry.
Omer Asik (born 1986) is a Turkish professional basketball player who has played in the NBA for several teams, including the Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Pelicans. He is known for his defensive abilities and has been named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.
People
Omer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Omer as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Omer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Omer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,635 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Omer 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 94,293 US residents.
Is Omer a common name?
We classify Omer as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,851 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Omer most popular?
The single biggest year for Omer was 1918, when 239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Omer is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Omer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,771 people with the name Omer, or 1.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,567 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 Omer 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 Omer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Omer leans strongly male. 5,681 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 89 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Omer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Omer is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.5%) and Black (13.7%). 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 Omer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Omer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (3,648 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 Omer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Omer a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Omer 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 Omer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Omer 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 Omer 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 have Omer as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Omer on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.