Kedar
Masculine · “Hebrew qedar”
I am black but comely, says the Song of Songs, as the tents of Kedar. Kedar was a nomadic people of the northern Arabian desert, and their tents were woven from black goat hair, which is what the line is comparing. A name in a love poem is the name of a nation, and the nation is named after a man in a genealogy.
How old is the name Kedar?
Kedar first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Kedar alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 500 people named Kedar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kedar most popular?
Kedar peaked in 1998, reaching #2552 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 5,691 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From qedar to Kedar
The story of Kedar
The Kedarites are one of the few biblical peoples who are also well documented outside the Bible. Assyrian royal inscriptions from the eighth and seventh centuries BC record campaigns against them, name their rulers, and describe them as camel-borne desert dwellers; later Persian and Nabataean sources continue the record. They controlled trade routes across northern Arabia and were a serious military power for several centuries. The black goat-hair tent they are known for is still made in the same way across the Arabian peninsula and the Levant: woven in long panels, the fibers swelling when wet to shed rain, breathable when dry. The comparison in the Song of Songs is therefore concrete rather than poetic invention, and the poem's speaker is describing a color anybody in the ancient Near East would have recognized at once.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew qedar, dark or black
From a Hebrew root associated with darkness. Kedar is named in Genesis 25 as the second son of Ishmael and became the name of a powerful Arabian tribal confederation, mentioned in Assyrian records as well as in the Bible. Whether the personal name or the tribal name came first is not recoverable. Kedar is separately a name in Sanskrit, borne by a form of Shiva and by the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath, and the two are unrelated.
How the name formed
- qedar
- Kedar
Related forms: Qedar · Kedar
Pronouncing Kedar
KEE-dar
Two syllables, stress on the first in English use. The Hebrew is keh-DAR with the stress at the end and a short first vowel. The Sanskrit name is KAY-dar. All three are in use for the same spelling.
Nicknames for Kedar
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
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 199833 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2552reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Kedar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Qedar in Hebrew — transliteration
- Kedar in Sanskrit — related form
Kedars among us
people named Kedar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Kedar
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 Corinthian test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kedar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Corinthian climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Corinthian's path sketches the road Kedar is walking now.
Kedar 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
Kedar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kedar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented history in both biblical and Assyrian records.
- It works in Hebrew, Arabic and Indian contexts.
- Two syllables, easy to say and to spell.
- Three pronunciations circulate depending on which tradition is meant.
- The Hebrew and Sanskrit names are unrelated despite the identical spelling.
- It is rare enough in the United States to need explaining.
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What they receive
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Kedar
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kedars 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 Kedar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kedar in 2025?
- Kedar ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kedar?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Kedar — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kedar with classmates?
- Kedar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kedar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kedar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kedar and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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