How to say it
O · mar
/ˈoʊ.mɑr/
Masculine
Omar
Flourishing, long-lived
What it means
Arabic ʿUmar, tied to a root for life and flourishing. A separate Hebrew Omar ('speaker') appears in Genesis.
Omar is most familiar as the Arabic ʿUmar, linked to a root meaning 'life' or 'flourishing,' and carried by Umar, the second caliph, which makes it one of the most common names across the Muslim world. An unrelated Hebrew Omar appears in the Book of Genesis. Westerners met it through the Persian poet-mathematician Omar Khayyám and his Rubáiyát. It has held steady US use for decades, strong in both Arab and Latino communities.
Popularity over time
peaked at #131 in 2006, currently #260 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Spelling
Umar is the closer transliteration of the Arabic; Omer is the common Turkish and Hebrew spelling.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Omar Khayyám Persian polymath and poet of the Rubáiyát
- Omar Sharif Egyptian actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago)
- Omar Little the shotgun-toting stickup man of The Wire
Spelling variants
- Umar
- Omer