Amani
Meaning
wishes; from an Arabic root meaning 'to tempt, to put to the test'
One Amani, two histories
Arabic · Wishes or hopes, written أماني.
Swahili · Peace, from the Swahili word amani.
The story
Amani means wishes in Arabic, related to a root having to do with tempting and testing, which feels right for a word about wanting. The American record picked it up quietly, 6 girls in the 1960s, and never put it down: 106 in the 1970s, 1,744 in the 1990s, 4,206 in the 2000s, 4,414 in the 2010s, and 2,738 so far this decade. Each finished decade of the girls' line has been higher than the last. It also runs a genuine boys' column, 989 in the 2000s and 860 in the 2010s, rarer than the girls' side but persistent. That double life is the quiet kind of success: a short, open-voweled word that keeps earning its place. Wishes, it turns out, travel well.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Amani peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
201 people · the #25,303 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 21
Among people named Amani living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 23 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Amani
Most people given the name Amani in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Amani deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Amani truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Amani fits with your family’s names and surname.
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