Head to head · Boys' names
Amias vs Anakin
#642 vs #648 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Amias is a whisker ahead (#642 vs #648 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Amias and Anakin each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1990s: Amias —, Anakin #5091 — Anakin higher
- 2000s: Amias #7802, Anakin #1576 — Anakin higher
- 2010s: Amias #3063, Anakin #1096 — Anakin higher
- 2020s: Amias #714, Anakin #622 — Anakin higher
Anakin stood higher in every recorded decade — 4 of 4.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Amias | Anakin |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | — | #5091 |
| 2000s | #7802 | #1576 |
| 2010s | #3063 | #1096 |
| 2020s | #714 | #622 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Amias
Most often read as 'loved', from Latin amatus
Two serious explanations compete. One traces it to Latin amatus, 'loved', by way of Amadeus; the other reads it as a locative surname turned first name, from the French city of Amiens, which turns up as a byname in medieval English records. Neither has been settled, and the name was already in ordinary use in England long before anyone tried to explain it.
Amyas → Amias
How it traveled
The name surfaces in English records in the sixteenth century, in the spelling Amyas as often as Amias, borne by gentry families including the Paulets of Somerset. It stayed a thin but unbroken thread through the following centuries, more a family name handed down than a fashionable pick.
Anakin
Not established
Anakin was coined for fiction, not inherited from a language, so it has no translation to give. What is documented is its author and its date: George Lucas wrote it into Star Wars, first heard on screen in 1977, and the films themselves never offer a meaning for it.
How it traveled
The name belongs to George Lucas, who put it in the mouth of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977 and left it unexplained for two decades. When the prequel trilogy opened in 1999 with The Phantom Menace, Anakin became a nine-year-old boy on a desert planet, and the name moved from a line of dialogue to a character parents had watched grow up.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Amias
uh-MY-us
uh-MY-us is the usual American reading. AY-mee-us and AM-ee-us are both heard too, particularly from people who know the older Amyas spelling, so expect to state your preference once and then again.
- Ami — The most straightforward clipping; informal, and open to being heard as the unrelated girls' name Amy.
- Mias — Back-clipping used within families; not an independent given name in English.
- Ace — A sound-based nickname rather than a true short form; playground and family use only.
Anakin
AN-uh-kin
First syllable like the word "an", stress on it, and the ending rhymes with "kin". The films fixed this pronunciation for English speakers, so it rarely needs explaining twice.
- Ani — The short form used inside the films by the character's mother and by Padmé; the one most people reach for first, and it doubles as an affectionate family form.
- Kin — A one-syllable clip from the end of the name, used informally.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Amias if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Amias from Anakin.
Choose Anakin if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Anakin from Amias.
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Amias
Strengths
- Four centuries of written use in English behind it, so it is a rare name with a real record rather than a recent coinage.
- Sits inside a sound family Americans already know — Elias, Tobias, Silas — which makes it easy to hear and repeat.
- Two legitimate spellings, Amias and Amyas, let a family choose the plainer or the older-looking one.
To consider
- The stress is genuinely unsettled: uh-MY-us, AY-mee-us and AM-ee-us all circulate. Whichever you choose, you will be correcting teachers, doctors' offices and new acquaintances for years.
- Amias and Amyas coexist, so the spelling will need saying aloud most times it is written down.
- No short form has settled into general use. Ami and Mias work, but they are family inventions rather than something the wider world will reach for.
Anakin
Strengths
- Almost everyone can spell it on first hearing, which is unusual for a name this uncommon — the films did the teaching.
- One settled pronunciation across English, with no regional variants to correct.
- A ready-made short form, Ani, already used affectionately within the story the name comes from.
To consider
- The name is tied to one character and no one else, and that character's story is his fall — he becomes Darth Vader. Anyone who knows the films knows the whole arc, and some will say so out loud.
- Ani is pronounced AH-nee in the films, which sounds like Annie and can lead to a gender mix-up over the phone or on a roster.
- Because it comes from a single source, expect the same conversation about it fairly often, at school and later on job applications. Some families find that easy; it is worth picturing in advance.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Amias and Anakin in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Amias and Anakin?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Amias and Anakin — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Amias or Anakin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Amias or Anakin?
- Amias, in 2025: Amias ranked #642 with 435 babies; Anakin ranked #648 with 427 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Amias or Anakin?
- Amias. Over the last five years Amias moved up 58 places; Anakin moved up 54 places.
- Which is the older name, Amias or Anakin?
- Amias entered the US charts in 2000; Anakin entered the US charts in 1995. On the American record, Anakin is the older name.
- How many people are named Amias and Anakin?
- About 3,100 people named Amias are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 5,800 people named Anakin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Amiass or Anakins in the classroom?
- Amias will almost certainly be the only one in school. Anakin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Amias, Anakin and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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