Akbar
Masculine · “greater”
Akbar is a comparative, not a superlative. Arabic grammar makes one form do both jobs, and the phrase most non-speakers know translates as God is greater rather than God is great: greater than whatever else was being weighed. The name carries that unfinished comparison in it.
How old is the name Akbar?
Akbar first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Akbar alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 600 people named Akbar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Akbar most popular?
Akbar peaked in 1975, reaching #2134 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 4,312 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kabir to Akbar
The story of Akbar
The elative pattern is one of the neatest pieces of Arabic morphology: any adjective built on the standard shape can be poured into af'al and comes out meaning more so, without needing a separate word for more. Akbar has been used as a personal name across the Muslim world for centuries, usually as part of a compound such as Ali Akbar rather than alone, and its most famous bearer is the third Mughal emperor, who ruled India from 1556 and whose religious tolerance made his name a byword. The name reached United States records with South Asian and African American Muslim naming, and its best year on file is 1975.
Meaning
greater, greatest
Arabic akbar is the elative of kabir, big or great, formed on the pattern af'al which covers both comparative and superlative senses; context decides which. The same pattern gives akram, more generous, and a'lam, more knowing. In the takbir the sense is generally understood as greater than any comparison, which is why the phrase resists a neat English rendering.
How the name formed
- kabir
- akbar
- Akbar
Related forms: Akbar · Akbar · Akbar · Ekber
Pronouncing Akbar
AK-bar
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The Arabic r is tapped and the final vowel is fully open; English speakers say AK-bar with an American r, which is the ordinary adaptation.
Nicknames for Akbar
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1960
- Most boys named
- 197521 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2134reached in 1975
- Change vs 2024
- −18.8%13 in 2025, from 16
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Akbar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Akbar in Arabic — same name
- Akbar in Persian — same name
- Akbar in Urdu — same name
- Ekber in Turkish — same name
Akbars among us
people named Akbar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Akbar
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Frederik test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Akbar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Frederik climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Frederik's path sketches the road Akbar is walking now.
Akbar sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Akbar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Akbar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning and one of the most consequential rulers of the early modern world behind it.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty in English.
- Recognized across the Arab world, Iran, Turkey and South Asia.
- The word is best known to many Americans from one Arabic phrase, with all the associations that carries.
- It is traditionally used in a compound rather than alone.
- The grammatical sense is comparative, which is harder to translate than it looks.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Akbar
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Akbars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Akbar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Akbar in 2025?
- Akbar ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Akbar?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Akbar — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Akbar with classmates?
- Akbar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Akbar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Akbar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Akbar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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