Show ContentsAmar History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

From the historical and enchanting Italian region of the islands of Sicily emerged a multitude of noble families, including the distinguished Amar family. Although people were originally known only by a single name, it became necessary for people to adopt a second name to identify themselves as populations grew and travel became more frequent. The process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames was not complete until the modern era, but the use of hereditary family names in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries. Italian hereditary surnames were developed according to fairly general principles and they were characterized by a profusion of derivatives coined from given names. Although the most common type of family name found in Sicily is the patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, the nickname type of surname is also frequently found. Nickname surnames were derived from an eke-name, or added name. They usually reflected the physical characteristics or attributes of the first person that used the name. The surname Amar is a name for a person that is bitter or unhappy. The surname Amari can be traced to the Italian word Amaro, which means bitter, unhappy or unfortunate, which jokingly indicates that the original bearer the surname had an embittered nature.

Amar Ranking

In the United States, the name Amar is the 18,361st most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1 However, in France, the name Amar is ranked the 1,090th most popular surname with an estimated 4,957 people with that name. 2


Contemporary Notables of the name Amar (post 1700) +

  • Amar Pal (1922-2019), Indian Bengali folk singer and author
  • Amar Bose (1929-2013), Indian-American MIT professor; founder of the Bose Corporation, listed in Forbes 400 as the 271st richest man in 2007


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/


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