Lamar
Lamar is given to both girls and boys: 19 girls and 115 boys were given it in 2025 (#6,234 among girls’ names and #1,517 among boys’, #2,908 among all names counting both); 35,251 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 25,900 Americans named Lamar and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (73% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 25 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lamar by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lamar mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lamar is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “the pool” (mare).
From a placename in Normandy, which was derived from Old French la mare (“the pool”).
/ləˈmɑː(ɹ)/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lamar?
#1,517 among boys’ names, 2025
Lamar fell from #818 in 2015 to #1,517 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.14 to 0.07 per 1,000.
748 babies in 1989, the peak
Lamar peaked in 1989, when 748 babies were given it (737 boys, #325 among boys’ names). The 134 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 18% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 115 | #1,517 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 120 | #1,496 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 136 | #1,374 | 0.08 |
| 2022 | 144 | #1,312 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 148 | #1,284 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 182 | #1,090 | 0.11 |
| 2019 | 194 | #1,056 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 201 | #1,025 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 234 | #915 | 0.13 |
| 2016 | 230 | #926 | 0.12 |
Every recorded year (140)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 277 | #818 | 0.14 |
| 2014 | 268 | #843 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 327 | #717 | 0.17 |
| 2012 | 289 | #785 | 0.15 |
| 2011 | 315 | #723 | 0.17 |
| 2010 | 333 | #702 | 0.17 |
| 2009 | 293 | #778 | 0.15 |
| 2008 | 308 | #740 | 0.15 |
| 2007 | 339 | #695 | 0.16 |
| 2006 | 340 | #671 | 0.17 |
| 2005 | 303 | #686 | 0.15 |
| 2004 | 263 | #725 | 0.13 |
| 2003 | 238 | #751 | 0.12 |
| 2002 | 242 | #730 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 288 | #649 | 0.15 |
| 2000 | 286 | #638 | 0.15 |
| 1999 | 256 | #664 | 0.13 |
| 1998 | 251 | #680 | 0.13 |
| 1997 | 323 | #574 | 0.17 |
| 1996 | 296 | #602 | 0.16 |
| 1995 | 306 | #584 | 0.16 |
| 1994 | 372 | #528 | 0.19 |
| 1993 | 405 | #510 | 0.21 |
| 1992 | 496 | #444 | 0.25 |
| 1991 | 550 | #413 | 0.27 |
| 1990 | 689 | #350 | 0.34 |
| 1989 | 737 | #325 | 0.37 |
| 1988 | 668 | #323 | 0.35 |
| 1987 | 613 | #335 | 0.33 |
| 1986 | 617 | #324 | 0.34 |
| 1985 | 535 | #348 | 0.29 |
| 1984 | 548 | #343 | 0.30 |
| 1983 | 600 | #320 | 0.33 |
| 1982 | 549 | #343 | 0.30 |
| 1981 | 586 | #327 | 0.33 |
| 1980 | 611 | #314 | 0.34 |
| 1979 | 573 | #325 | 0.33 |
| 1978 | 483 | #350 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 516 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1976 | 362 | #409 | 0.23 |
| 1975 | 322 | #444 | 0.21 |
| 1974 | 323 | #441 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 346 | #421 | 0.22 |
| 1972 | 424 | #381 | 0.26 |
| 1971 | 388 | #409 | 0.22 |
| 1970 | 400 | #407 | 0.22 |
| 1969 | 314 | #444 | 0.18 |
| 1968 | 302 | #438 | 0.17 |
| 1967 | 262 | #470 | 0.15 |
| 1966 | 220 | #511 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 239 | #494 | 0.13 |
| 1964 | 258 | #493 | 0.13 |
| 1963 | 224 | #531 | 0.11 |
| 1962 | 261 | #491 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 259 | #491 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 267 | #486 | 0.13 |
| 1959 | 272 | #475 | 0.13 |
| 1958 | 261 | #484 | 0.12 |
| 1957 | 279 | #459 | 0.13 |
| 1956 | 272 | #457 | 0.13 |
| 1955 | 282 | #439 | 0.14 |
| 1954 | 291 | #421 | 0.14 |
| 1953 | 273 | #427 | 0.14 |
| 1952 | 275 | #416 | 0.14 |
| 1951 | 283 | #405 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 276 | #405 | 0.15 |
| 1949 | 267 | #415 | 0.15 |
| 1948 | 284 | #406 | 0.16 |
| 1947 | 277 | #411 | 0.15 |
| 1946 | 216 | #433 | 0.13 |
| 1945 | 198 | #425 | 0.15 |
| 1944 | 222 | #403 | 0.16 |
| 1943 | 241 | #393 | 0.17 |
| 1942 | 225 | #407 | 0.16 |
| 1941 | 218 | #390 | 0.18 |
| 1940 | 212 | #393 | 0.18 |
| 1939 | 210 | #390 | 0.19 |
| 1938 | 211 | #392 | 0.19 |
| 1937 | 220 | #368 | 0.21 |
| 1936 | 198 | #389 | 0.19 |
| 1935 | 216 | #368 | 0.21 |
| 1934 | 221 | #368 | 0.21 |
| 1933 | 244 | #345 | 0.25 |
| 1932 | 229 | #366 | 0.22 |
| 1931 | 216 | #381 | 0.21 |
| 1930 | 228 | #376 | 0.21 |
| 1929 | 216 | #394 | 0.20 |
| 1928 | 233 | #387 | 0.21 |
| 1927 | 224 | #401 | 0.20 |
| 1926 | 221 | #400 | 0.20 |
| 1925 | 237 | #389 | 0.21 |
| 1924 | 234 | #397 | 0.21 |
| 1923 | 209 | #416 | 0.19 |
| 1922 | 189 | #444 | 0.17 |
| 1921 | 179 | #460 | 0.16 |
| 1920 | 183 | #447 | 0.17 |
| 1919 | 163 | #467 | 0.17 |
| 1918 | 161 | #467 | 0.16 |
| 1917 | 163 | #443 | 0.18 |
| 1916 | 167 | #435 | 0.19 |
| 1915 | 125 | #494 | 0.15 |
| 1914 | 99 | #491 | 0.15 |
| 1913 | 78 | #493 | 0.15 |
| 1912 | 52 | #558 | 0.12 |
| 1911 | 29 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1910 | 34 | #476 | 0.18 |
| 1909 | 20 | #603 | 0.12 |
| 1908 | 19 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1907 | 31 | #412 | 0.21 |
| 1906 | 17 | #577 | 0.13 |
| 1905 | 15 | #626 | 0.11 |
| 1904 | 10 | #787 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,078 | 0.05 |
| 1902 | 15 | #568 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 14 | #549 | 0.13 |
| 1900 | 16 | #639 | 0.11 |
| 1899 | 12 | #600 | 0.11 |
| 1898 | 10 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 15 | #538 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 7 | #937 | 0.06 |
| 1895 | 10 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1894 | 10 | #701 | 0.09 |
| 1893 | 10 | #682 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 10 | #719 | 0.08 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,050 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,087 | 0.05 |
| 1888 | 7 | #875 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 7 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 14 | #513 | 0.13 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,020 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Lamar a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 35,251 Americans recorded as Lamar, 4% are girls and 96% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Lamar: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lamar, and how old are they?
25,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 73% of the 35,251 Americans ever recorded as Lamar. The median Lamar alive today is 40 years old; half are between 25 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 21,069 people named Lamar (862 women and girls, 20,207 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 26,458 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 778 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,490 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,230 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,780 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Lamar born?
The states with the most babies named Lamar are Ohio, Georgia and Pennsylvania, with 49% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 15 | #640 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 10 | #894 | 3.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #970 | 1.4× |
| Florida | 7 | #1,563 | 1.6× |
| Texas | 7 | #2,202 | 0.5× |
| New York | 5 | #1,925 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,204 | 1.1× |
| Indiana | 5 | #1,033 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,188 | 0.8× |
Where Lamar is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lamar is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1910 it was given 3.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Lamar with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 38,757 babies since 1880, Lamar is the most given (91% of them). In 2025 it was given to 134 of their 174 babies (77%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lamar
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Lamar and names like it
- Compare Lamar and LamarrBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sLamar peaked in 1989.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lamar since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Lamar: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Lamar.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Lamar alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with LMost given first.