Zamar
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "one who praises".
Name Census estimates that about 594 living Americans carry the first name Zamar. It is a predominantly male name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Zamar today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zamar births was 2023 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zamar. 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 Zamar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
594
~ 1 in 577,028 Americans
Peak year
2023
42 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,864
Tracked since 1990
Census
Zamar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 419 people with the first name Zamar, which placed it at #23,378 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
#23,378
National first-name rank
People counted
419
419 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zamar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zamar is Black at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (7.9%). 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 Zamar 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 Zamar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.3% · 307
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 44
- Two or more races7.9% · 33
- White4.3% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Zamar
Zamar leans heavily male at 99.0% of total registrations, but 6 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Zamar as a male name
- Ranked #4,864 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (36 births)
Zamar as a female name
- Ranked #15,141 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zamar leans strongly male. 385 people counted with this name were male (92.1%), compared with 33 female bearers (7.9%).
Popularity
Zamar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zamar 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 248 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zamar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zamar 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 Zamar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zamars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, California recorded the most babies named Zamar, while New Jersey, California, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Zamar
The name Zamar has its origins in the Arabic language, where it is derived from the verb "zamara," which means "to sing" or "to chant." This connection to music and melody can be traced back to ancient Arabic cultures and traditions, where singing and chanting played a significant role in religious practices and cultural celebrations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Zamar can be found in ancient Islamic texts, particularly in the Quran, where it is mentioned in reference to the Psalms of David, which were often sung or chanted during religious ceremonies. This association with the Psalms and the act of praising God through song may have contributed to the name's popularity among certain Muslim communities.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Zamar. One such individual was Zamar ibn Ata (740-828 AD), a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry and the calculation of planetary movements.
Another figure of historical importance was Zamar al-Hamdani (890-971 AD), a renowned Arab poet and literary scholar who is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Abbasid era. His works, which often celebrated the beauty and richness of the Arabic language, have been studied and admired for centuries.
In the realm of Islamic scholarship, Zamar ibn Ibrahim al-Hafiz (1010-1085 AD) was a prominent figure who was widely respected for his expertise in Hadith (the recorded sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad). His extensive knowledge and contributions to the preservation and interpretation of Islamic teachings have left a lasting legacy.
Moving forward in time, Zamar ibn Ali al-Khazraji (1160-1238 AD) was a notable Arab physician and philosopher who made significant contributions to the fields of medicine and natural philosophy. His writings on various medical topics, including anatomy and pharmacology, were widely studied and influential during his time.
More recently, Zamar Rahim (1927-2013) was a celebrated Afghan poet and writer who was widely acclaimed for his lyrical and evocative works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human experience. His poetic legacy has inspired generations of writers and continues to be celebrated in Afghanistan and beyond.
People
Zamar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zamar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zamar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zamar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 594 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zamar 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 577,028 US residents.
Is Zamar a common name?
We classify Zamar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 600 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zamar most popular?
The single biggest year for Zamar was 2023, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zamar is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zamar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 419 people with the name Zamar, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,378 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 Zamar 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 Zamar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Zamar leans strongly male. 385 people counted with this name were male (92.1%), compared with 33 female bearers (7.9%). 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 Zamar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zamar is Black at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (7.9%). 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 Zamar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zamar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.3% (307 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 Zamar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zamar a male name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Zamar 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 Zamar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zamar 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 Zamar 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 the name Zamar?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Zamar, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.