Lamar
Masculine · “the pool”
Lamar is given to both — 33,967 boys and 1,284 girls since 1880. See Lamar as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Lamar is a French place name — la mare, the pool — that became a Norman surname, an English one, and then one of the more durable American given names.
How old is the name Lamar?
Lamar first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Lamar alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 25,500 people named Lamar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lamar most popular?
Lamar peaked in 1980, reaching #314 nationally. Today it ranks #1514, 1,200 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Lamar appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From la mare to Lamar
The story of Lamar
De la Mare families came to England with the Normans, and the surname traveled to America, where Mirabeau Lamar was the second president of the Republic of Texas and gave his name to counties and a university. It became a given name in the American South and rose steadily through the twentieth century, peaking around 1975.
Meaningscholars disagree
the pool
From the Old French la mare, 'the pool' or 'the pond'. A competing account reads it as la mer, 'the sea', which is repeated often but is the weaker reading — the surname is topographic and points to standing water rather than the ocean. The Norman origin itself is not disputed.
How the name formed
- la mare
- de la Mare
- Lamar
Related forms: Lamare · Lemar · Delamare
Pronouncing Lamar
luh-MAR
Two syllables, stress on the second. The French la mare places the stress differently, but the English reading is settled.
Nicknames for Lamar
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 1988668 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #314reached in 1980
- Change vs 2022
- −20.1%115 in 2025, from 144
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.
Lamar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lamare in French — spelling variant
- Lemar in English — spelling variant
- Delamare in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan.
Lamars among us
people named Lamar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,853 born in 2025 was named Lamar
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 Patsy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lamar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Patsy climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Patsy's path sketches the road Lamar is walking now.
Lamar 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
Where Lamar is headed
Lamar is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Lamar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lamar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Norman surname with a clean topographic meaning.
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- It has a long and steady American record rather than a single spike.
- The pool-or-sea question is genuinely unsettled in popular sources.
- It is closely associated with the American South.
- It peaked in the 1970s, though it has never disappeared.
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What they receive
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Lamar
Masculine · #1514 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lamars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 25,500 people named Lamar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lamar in 2025?
- Lamar ranks #1514 among US boy names in 2025, with 115 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lamar?
- About 1 in every 14,853 US boys born in 2025 was named Lamar — 115 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lamar with classmates?
- Lamar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lamar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jru#1514 · Wolfgang#1514 · Jahmari#1514 · Gavriel#1514 · Tristian#1514 · Brent#1509 · Zackary#1509 · Masai#1509
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lamar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lamar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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