Ambar
Feminine · “amber”
Ambar is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 3,026 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Ambar is amber, and the word came from Arabic — anbar, which meant ambergris from a whale before Europe transferred it to fossil tree resin.
How old is the name Ambar?
Ambar first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Ambar alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 3,000 people named Ambar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ambar most popular?
Ambar peaked in 1981, reaching #1396 nationally. Today it ranks #1844, 448 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From anbar to Ambar
The story of Ambar
Ambergris and amber were both called anbar in Arabic trade, and Europe took the word without keeping the distinction — French amber gris, grey amber, was coined to separate them again. Ámbar is a Spanish name; Ambar is separately used in India from the Sanskrit for sky. Both routes brought it to America, where it is in current use.
Meaning
amber
From the Arabic anbar, which named ambergris, the waxy substance from sperm whales used in perfumery. Medieval Europe applied the word to fossilized tree resin as well and the two were confused; the resin sense won. The Spanish ámbar and the Sanskrit ambara, 'sky', are separate arrivals at the same sound.
How the name formed
- anbar
- ámbar
- Ambar
Related forms: Ámbar · अम्बर · Amber
Pronouncing Ambar
AHM-bar
Two syllables, stress on the first. Spanish marks it Ámbar and says it the same way; English Amber is AM-bur.
Nicknames for Ambar
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 2024123 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1396reached in 1981
- Change vs 2024
- −12.2%108 in 2025, from 123
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.
Ambar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ámbar in Spanish — same name
- अम्बर in Hindi — transliteration
- Amber in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Ambars among us
people named Ambar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,882 born in 2025 was named Ambar
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 Dorrie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ambar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dorrie climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dorrie's path sketches the road Ambar is walking now.
Ambar is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ambar is headed
Ambar looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 35% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ambar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ambar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The whale-to-tree-resin confusion is a first-rate piece of trade-word history.
- Two genuine traditions can claim it, Spanish and Indian.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- Amber is the form English speakers will assume.
- The accent is routinely dropped in American records.
- The Sanskrit and Arabic routes are unrelated despite the shared spelling.
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What they receive
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Ambar
Feminine · #1844 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ambars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Ambar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ambar in 2025?
- Ambar ranks #1844 among US girl names in 2025, with 108 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ambar?
- About 1 in every 14,882 US girls born in 2025 was named Ambar — 108 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ambar with classmates?
- Ambar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ambar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emberleigh#1844 · Leen#1844 · Vivien#1844 · Darlene#1844 · Elissa#1844 · Francine#1844 · Rhaenyra#1844 · Brenna#1844
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ambar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ambar and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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