Omar
Masculine · Arabic roots · “flourishing”
Omar is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 106,438 boys against 456 girls since 1880.
Omar reached English-speaking ears in a memorable way: through Edward FitzGerald's 1859 translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, which put an eleventh-century Persian astronomer-poet's name on parlor bookshelves across Britain and America. It has been on US record books ever since, and it belongs just as fully to Arabic, Spanish, and Turkish speakers. Two syllables, open at the end, spelled the way it sounds.
How old is the name Omar?
Omar was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Omar alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 101,000 people named Omar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Omar most popular?
Omar peaked in 2006, reaching #131 nationally. Today it ranks #260, 129 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Omar appears on these lists:
- The steadiest names in America
- Names with only one spelling
- Arabic names in American use
- Names that work in Spanish and English
- Names ending in -ar
- all guides
Works in Arabic families too:
Where it comes from
From ʿUmar (Arabic) to Omar
The story of Omar
Omar is the English and Spanish spelling of the Arabic ʿUmar. Its standing in the Muslim world rests largely on ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph, who ruled in the seventh century — since then it has been among the most-given names from Morocco to Indonesia. The Persian mathematician and poet Omar Khayyám carried it into European awareness centuries later, and FitzGerald's Victorian translation of his quatrains made the name briefly fashionable in English on its own. In Spanish-speaking countries it settled in as a standard given name of its own accord, which is part of why it is so well established in California, Texas, and New York.
Meaning
flourishing, long-lived
The Arabic name ʿUmar comes from the root ʿ-m-r, which carries ideas of life, long life, and thriving habitation. A separate and much rarer Omar appears in Genesis as a grandson of Esau; that Hebrew name's meaning has never been established, and it is not the source of the modern name.
How the name formed
- ʿUmarArabic
- Umar
- Omar
Related forms: عمر (ʿUmar) · Ömer · Omer · Umar · Omar · Umar
Pronouncing Omar
OH-mar
The standard American pronunciation stresses the first syllable. In Arabic it is closer to OO-mar, with the stress falling differently and an opening consonant English does not have; Spanish speakers often say oh-MAR. All are correct in their own settings, and families usually pick one and let the other pass.
Nicknames for Omar
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20073,216 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #131reached in 2006
- Change vs 2022
- −8.3%1,333 in 2025, from 1,453
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.
Omar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- عمر (ʿUmar) in Arabic — transliteration
- Ömer in Turkish — same name
- Omer in Bosnian — spelling variant
- Umar in Urdu — transliteration
- Omar in Spanish — same name
- Umar in Indonesian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Omars among us
people named Omar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,281 born in 2025 was named Omar
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 Tyrone test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Omar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tyrone climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tyrone's path sketches the road Omar is walking now.
Omar 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 Omar is headed
Omar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Omar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Omar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it is said in English, with no silent letters and no fork in the road between two common spellings.
- Works unaltered in Arabic-, Spanish-, and English-speaking settings, which matters in households that live in more than one of them.
- On US records continuously across generations rather than arriving in a single wave, so it reads as neither dated nor new.
- Short enough at two syllables that it needs no nickname to be usable all day.
- There is no established short form. Omar is what he will be called at home, at school, and at work — fine for many families, but worth knowing if you like having a nickname in reserve.
- Because of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, the name carries strong Sunni associations and is given far less often in Shia families. If that distinction matters in your family, it is worth talking through early.
- Expect a lifetime of small pronunciation negotiations: OH-mar, oh-MAR, and the Arabic ʿUmar are all in circulation, and people will guess based on their own background.
- Umar and Omer are both real spellings of the same name, so forms and rosters will occasionally need a gentle correction.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Omar to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Omar? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Omar
Masculine · Arabic roots · #260 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Omars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 101,000 people named Omar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Omar in 2025?
- Omar ranks #260 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,333 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Omar?
- About 1 in every 1,281 US boys born in 2025 was named Omar — 1,333 in all.
- Will my child share the name Omar with classmates?
- Omar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Omar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Brandon#261 · Xander#259 · Paul#262 · Marcus#258 · Ayden#257 · Ismael#263 · Kayson#264 · Crew#256
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Omar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Omar and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle