Shamar
Masculine · “To guard”
Shamar is given to both — 6,137 boys and 249 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Shamar is a Hebrew verb — shāmar is to guard, to keep, to watch over — and it is also, in American naming, a Sha- prefix on a -mar ending. Both readings are live and the record does not choose between them.
How old is the name Shamar?
Shamar first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Shamar alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 6,000 people named Shamar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shamar most popular?
Shamar peaked in 2000, reaching #552 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 5,056 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From šāmar to Shamar
Our story of Shamar
This is a name where two entirely different accounts fit the same letters and both are reasonable. Read as Hebrew, Shamar is a verb of guarding with a long biblical life, and Christian naming has drawn on Hebrew vocabulary directly for a long time. Read as American, it is Sha- plus -mar, and the company it keeps in the records supports that: Shamar rises in the same years as Jamar, Lamar, Demar, Kamar and Tamar, which are unambiguously prefix formations on a shared ending. Lamar was in the American top three hundred through the 1970s and 1980s and made the ending fully available. Shamar's peak in 2000 sits at the tail of that group's run, and the honest account gives both roads.
Meaningscholars disagree
To guard, to keep, if Hebrew
Hebrew šāmar means to keep or guard and is one of the commonest verbs in the Hebrew Bible — it is the word in keep the Sabbath. It is not itself a biblical personal name, though Shammah and Shamir are. Separately, the Sha- prefix and the -mar ending were both productive American naming elements in the same decades. Neither reading is established for a given bearer.
How the name formed
- šāmar
- Shamar
Related forms: שָׁמַר
Pronouncing Shamar
shuh-MAR
Two syllables, stress on the second. Hebrew šāmar puts the weight on the second as well, shah-MAR, so the two readings agree in sound.
Nicknames for Shamar
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
- 2000383 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #552reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- −55.6%16 in 2025, from 36
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.
Shamar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- שָׁמַר in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, New York, Georgia.
Shamars among us
people named Shamar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Shamar
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 Alvis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shamar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alvis climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alvis's path sketches the road Shamar is walking now.
Shamar 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
Shamar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shamar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Shay and Mar both work as short forms.
- The Hebrew reading is settled and admirable.
- Six letters and two syllables keep it compact.
- The two possible accounts of the name are entirely different.
- Shamar, Shamarr and Shemar are three spellings of nearly one sound.
- The Hebrew word is a verb rather than a biblical personal name.
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What they receive
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Shamar
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shamars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,000 people named Shamar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shamar in 2025?
- Shamar ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shamar?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Shamar — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shamar with classmates?
- Shamar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shamar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shamar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shamar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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