Ammar
Masculine · Arabic roots · “builder”
Ammar comes from one of the most productive roots in Arabic — the same cluster of letters behind words for building, dwelling and a long life. It has been carried since the earliest years of Islam, when ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir stood among the first companions of the Prophet Muhammad in Mecca, and it is still given from Morocco to Malaysia. Two syllables, stress on the second, and it lands the same way in almost every language that uses it.
How old is the name Ammar?
Ammar first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Ammar alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 3,000 people named Ammar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ammar most popular?
Ammar peaked in 2025, reaching #1241 nationally. Today it ranks #1241, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ʿamara (Arabic root ʿ-m-r: to build, to dwell, to live long) to Ammar
The story of Ammar
Ammar is Arabic, built on the root ʿ-m-r, which covers building, dwelling and long life. Its standing in the language owes much to ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, one of the earliest converts to Islam in seventh-century Mecca and a figure honored in both Sunni and Shia tradition; his name has been given to sons ever since. From Arabic it traveled with Islam into Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Malay and Indonesian, and into the Balkans, keeping its spelling almost unchanged through every one of those languages. In the United States it arrived with families from those regions, which is why the record clusters in the big immigration states of the coasts and the south.
Meaning
builder; one who lives long
Both readings come from the single Arabic root ʿ-m-r, which gives ʿimāra (building, construction), maʿmūr (inhabited, flourishing) and ʿumr (lifespan). ʿAmmār is an intensive form, so the sense is someone who builds much, or whose life is long and full — dictionaries render it either way, and they are describing the same word.
How the name formed
- ʿamaraArabic root ʿ-m-r: to build, to dwell, to live long
- ʿAmmār
- Ammar
Related forms: عَمَّار · عمار · Ammar · Ammar · Ammaar · Amar
Pronouncing Ammar
am-MAR
Stress on the second syllable, which rhymes with 'car'. In Arabic the m is doubled and held, and the word opens on the consonant ʿayn, which has no English equivalent; English speakers generally land on am-MAR or uh-MAR, and both are widely accepted.
Nicknames for Ammar
Limited
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 2025161 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1241reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +36.4%161 in 2025, from 118
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.
Ammar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- عَمَّار in Arabic — same name
- عمار in Urdu — transliteration
- Ammar in Turkish — same name
- Ammar in Malay / Indonesian — same name
- Ammaar in English — spelling variant
- Amar in Bosnian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Texas, California.
Ammars among us
people named Ammar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,609 born in 2025 was named Ammar
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ammar
- #1241
- Ammar on the 2025 chart
- #637
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ammar went to 161 boys in 2025, but Amar, Amaar and Amarr are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 307, which makes it the 637th most-given boys’ name of the year — 604 places above the chart.
- Ammar161
- Amar132
- Amaar9
- Amarr5
About 1 boy in 5,564 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,609 for Ammar itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Karsten test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ammar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Karsten climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Karsten's path sketches the road Ammar is walking now.
Ammar is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ammar is headed
Ammar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Ammar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ammar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling works across Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Malay, Indonesian and English — no adjustment needed when the name crosses a border.
- Two syllables, five letters, no silent letters, and it is said the way it looks to most English readers.
- An unbroken record from the seventh century to the present, with a meaning that is settled rather than guessed at.
- Recognized on sight by a very large share of the world's Muslim families, while staying uncommon in American classrooms.
- English ears mix it up with Amar, Omar and Amir, all of which are separate names. Expect a certain amount of gentle correcting, at the doctor's office and on class lists.
- The doubled m and the opening ʿayn of the Arabic don't survive into English, so the name at home and the name at school may sound slightly different. Many families are content with both.
- American children hunting for a nickname sometimes land on 'Ammo'. Worth knowing in advance; families who use the full name consistently tend to see it stick.
- It is rare enough here that a child will likely be the only one in the building — an advantage most years, and occasionally a small tax in patience.
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Ammar
Masculine · Arabic roots · #1241 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ammars 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 Ammar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ammar?
- Ammar is the most-used spelling in US records — 161 of the 307 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Amar, Amaar and Amarr.
- How popular is the name Ammar in 2025?
- Ammar ranks #1241 among US boy names in 2025, with 161 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ammar?
- About 1 in every 10,609 US boys born in 2025 was named Ammar — 161 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ammar with classmates?
- Ammar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ammar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mazi#1241 · Sultan#1241 · Oakland#1244 · Ravi#1244 · Rian#1244 · Jet#1244 · Cory#1244 · Cedar#1244
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ammar? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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