Amiri
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Meaning
related to Arabic amir, "commander, prince"; Swahili amiri is an Arabic borrowing meaning "commander"
The story
Amiri’s "commander" explanation leads to Arabic amīr, a title meaning "commander" or "prince" that also gave English the word emir. Swahili dictionaries record the noun amiri as "commander," with a historical dictionary explicitly identifying the Arabic connection. The name also entered a particular literary life when the writer publishing as LeRoi Jones adopted Amiri Baraka. He and Amina Baraka later codirected the community arts space Kimako’s Blues People. A contemporary account of their monthly home salon in Newark brings that work down to the basement: there were chairs, lights, a sound system and a piano. People could sign up to read, sing or play, and the jazz sometimes continued beyond midnight. Amina and Amiri’s basement had room for people who came to listen and a sign-up sheet for people ready to contribute.
How popular is Amiri around the world?
In the United States, 4,122 babies were named Amiri between 2020 and 2025.
Amiri is on the official records of the United States, England and Wales, Canada and Brazil.
United States
1 in 5,300
In the United States, 4,122 babies were named Amiri between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Amiri peaked in the 2020s. In 2025 Amiri went to 266 girls and 472 boys in the US Social Security record, one of the few names given to girls and boys in nearly equal numbers.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
England and Wales
1 in 28,000
In England and Wales, 16 boys named Amiri were born in 2025, ranked 1,613th among boys that year.
In England and Wales, 5 girls named Amiri were born in 2025, ranked 4,201st among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 30,000
In Canada, 12 boys named Amiri were born in 2024, ranked 1,698th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Austria
last on record 2020
Amiri is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 22 people in Brazil were named Amiri, ranked 116,443rd, with a median age of 38.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Amiri
Most people given the name Amiri 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.
Keep exploring
The Amiri deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Amiri 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 Amiri fits with your family’s names and surname.
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