Munir
Masculine · “shining”
Munir is the thing that gives light rather than the light itself. Arabic distinguishes carefully: nur is the light, and munir is what shines — a lamp, a face, a moon.
How old is the name Munir?
Munir first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Munir alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 800 people named Munir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Munir most popular?
Munir peaked in 2020, reaching #2806 nationally. Today it ranks #2991, 185 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From nur to Munir
The story of Munir
The root n-w-r runs through Arabic in words for light, fire and illumination, and it produced a small family of names: Nur, Munir, Munira, Anwar, Nuri. The Qur'an describes the moon as a munir, a giver of light, which is where the name's association with the moon comes from. It is used across the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Southeast Asia, by Muslim and Christian Arabic-speaking families alike, and it reaches United States records from all of them.
Meaning
shining, luminous, radiant
Arabic munir is the active participle of anara, 'to give light', built on nur, 'light' — the same word behind the name Noor. So Noor is the light and Munir is the one shining it. The reading is documented and undisputed, and the grammatical relationship between the two names is visible to any Arabic speaker.
How the name formed
- nur
- munir
- Munir
Related forms: Munir · Münir · Muneer · Monir
Pronouncing Munir
moo-NEER
Two syllables with the stress on the second and a long ee at the end. English speakers often say MYOO-ner, giving the first vowel an English long u and moving the stress forward, which changes both.
Nicknames for Munir
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 202444 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2806reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −6.8%41 in 2025, from 44
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.
Munir in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Munir in Arabic — transliteration
- Münir in Turkish — spelling variant
- Muneer in Urdu — spelling variant
- Monir in Persian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Minnesota, California.
Munirs among us
people named Munir are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 41,660 born in 2025 was named Munir
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 Eion test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Munir's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eion climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eion's path sketches the road Munir is walking now.
Munir 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 Munir is headed
Munir looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% 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.
Munir beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Munir in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A precise documented meaning that stands in a clear grammatical relation to Noor.
- Five letters, no silent ones, and readable at first sight in English.
- Recognized across a very wide part of the world without any explanation.
- English speakers reach for MYOO-ner on first sight until corrected.
- Munir, Muneer and Monir are all standard in different countries and look different on paper.
- It sits close to Munira, which is the feminine and a separate name.
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What they receive
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Munir
Masculine · #2991 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Munirs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Munir are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Munir in 2025?
- Munir ranks #2991 among US boy names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Munir?
- About 1 in every 41,660 US boys born in 2025 was named Munir — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Munir with classmates?
- Munir will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Munir
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roran#2991 · Izaak#2991 · Nyle#2991 · Levin#2991 · Tilden#2991 · Hanson#2991 · Breck#2991 · Oswaldo#2991
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Munir? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Munir 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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