Amir
Feminine · “Arabic amir”
Amir is given to boys far more often — 55,747 boys against 510 girls since 1880. See Amir as a boy name
Admiral is an Arabic word with a Latin mistake in it. Amir al-bahr means commander of the sea; European borrowers took the phrase, kept the amir and the al, and then assumed the ad- was the Latin prefix, which is how a title for an Arab naval commander became the word for a European one.
How old is the name Amir?
Amir first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Amir alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 500 people named Amir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Amir most popular?
Amir peaked in 2004, reaching #4816 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 4,044 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From amir to Amir
The story of Amir
The word traveled through Norman Sicily, where Arabic administration survived the conquest and Arabic titles were used in a Latin-speaking court. Amir al-bahr and similar phrases were taken over as amiratus and then amiral, and along the way the first syllable was reinterpreted: European clerks who knew Latin assumed ad- was the familiar prefix meaning to or toward, and the d was inserted to make the word look regular. It is a false reanalysis of exactly the kind that produced apron from napron. The Arabic al- in the middle, the definite article, survived as the -al ending. So the English word contains an Arabic noun, an Arabic article, and a Latin prefix that was never there, and the whole thing has meant a naval commander in Europe for eight hundred years.
Meaning
Arabic amir, a commander
From the Arabic root a-m-r, to command, giving amir, one who commands, and the compound amir al-bahr, commander of the sea, which through Sicilian and Old French gave English admiral. Amir is used chiefly for men across the Arab world and in Persian and Urdu; the American female use is small and peaks in 2004. Hebrew Amir, a treetop or sheaf, is a separate word.
How the name formed
- amir
- Amir
Related forms: Amir · Amir · Amir
Pronouncing Amir
ah-MEER
Two syllables, stress on the second, long second vowel. The initial letter carries a glottal stop in Arabic that English omits. English speakers sometimes say AY-mer, which is a different name.
Nicknames for Amir
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 200427 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4816reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- +57.1%11 in 2025, from 7
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.
Amir in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Amir in Arabic — transliteration
- Amir in Persian — same name
- Amir in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Amirs among us
people named Amir are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Amir
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 Angeleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Amir's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Angeleen climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Angeleen's path sketches the road Amir is walking now.
Amir 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
Amir beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Amir in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and the word has a documented history in English.
- It is short and easy to spell.
- It works across Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hebrew settings.
- It is overwhelmingly a man's name in every tradition that uses it.
- Amira is the standard Arabic feminine.
- English speakers regularly move the stress to the front.
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What they receive
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Amir
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Amirs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Amir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Amir in 2025?
- Amir ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Amir?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Amir — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Amir with classmates?
- Amir will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Amir
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Amir? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Amir and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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