Amir

In Islamic history, the title amir was conferred on military commanders and provincial governors throughout the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, becoming hereditary in many regions.

The personal name Amir spread across the Arab world from the Maghreb to Indonesia, and was carried by poets such as the medieval Andalusian Amir ibn Tufayl.

In Persia it produced the variant Amir Khan, a martial title that became a personal name in Mughal India and modern Iran.

In Hebrew literature the name was popularised by Israeli poet Amir Gilboa (1917-1984) and novelist Amir Gutfreund.

In contemporary Indian cinema Aamir Khan (an Urdu spelling of the same name) became one of the most influential film stars in the world through films such as Lagaan (2001), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and 3 Idiots

(2009).

The name is also carried by US writer Amir Hussain and by characters in Khaled Hosseini”s novel The Kite Runner (2003), whose protagonist is the boy Amir from Kabul.

According to US Social Security Administration records, Amir first entered the top 1000 in 1976, climbed slowly through the 1980s and 1990s, and accelerated after the publication of The Kite Runner.

It broke the top 200 in 2014 and reached rank 91 in 2023. The name is particularly strong in the urban Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and California, with significant adoption across Muslim, Jewish and African-American families.

Contemporary bearers include US footballer Amir Garrett and Iranian-American writer Amir Ahmadi Arian.