# Anwar (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/anwar/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Arabic |
| Meaning | “most luminous” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 2,864 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 2,761 / 103 (4% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 483, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic أَنْوَر (ʔanwar, “most luminous”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 9 | 6,819 |
| 1983 | 5 | 10,371 |
| 1985 | 5 | 10,783 |
| 1994 | 8 | 9,653 |
| 1995 | 6 | 11,903 |
| 1996 | 8 | 9,656 |
| 1997 | 9 | 9,084 |
| 2000 | 7 | 11,917 |
| 2006 | 6 | 15,330 |
| 2008 | 5 | 17,812 |
| 2009 | 10 | 10,766 |
| 2012 | 7 | 13,637 |
| 2013 | 6 | 14,787 |
| 2015 | 6 | 14,697 |
| 2020 | 6 | 13,615 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 55 | 2,319 |
| 2012 | 35 | 3,183 |
| 2013 | 45 | 2,626 |
| 2014 | 33 | 3,307 |
| 2015 | 43 | 2,770 |
| 2016 | 43 | 2,785 |
| 2017 | 32 | 3,441 |
| 2018 | 35 | 3,249 |
| 2019 | 51 | 2,556 |
| 2020 | 33 | 3,352 |
| 2021 | 25 | 4,122 |
| 2022 | 41 | 3,007 |
| 2023 | 38 | 3,182 |
| 2024 | 44 | 2,876 |
| 2025 | 38 | 3,129 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 3 | 3,795 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 15 | 1,522 |
| 2012 | 20 | 1,270 |
| 2013 | 14 | 1,617 |
| 2014 | 16 | 1,486 |
| 2015 | 22 | 1,186 |
| 2016 | 16 | 1,570 |
| 2017 | 11 | 2,052 |
| 2018 | 10 | 2,112 |
| 2019 | 16 | 1,506 |
| 2020 | 17 | 1,431 |
| 2021 | 10 | 2,125 |
| 2022 | 15 | 1,609 |
| 2023 | 16 | 1,533 |
| 2024 | 16 | 1,595 |
| 2025 | 21 | 1,307 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: أنور, أَنْوَار
- Armenian: Էնվեր
- Chinese: 安瓦爾 /安瓦尔, 安華 /安华
- Hindi: अनवर, अनवार
- Indonesian: Anwar
- Turkish: Enver

## People named Anwar

- Anwar al-Awlaki, American-Yemeni imam and suspected Islamist extremist (1971–2011)
- Anwar El Ghazi, Dutch association football player
- Anwar Mesbah, Egyptian weightlifter (1913-1998)
- Anwar Wagdi, Egyptian actor (1904–1955)
- Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Emirati politician and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs
- Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, Afghan politician
- Anwar Akbari, Afghan association football player
- Anwar Hadid, American model
- Anwar Choudhury, British diplomat and governor
- Anwar Siraj, Ethiopian association football player
- Anwar Hossain, Bangladeshi photographer and cinematographer (1948-2018)
- Anwar Ali, cricketer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.