Omar
Meaning of Omar
Omar is a traveler’s name—born in the sun-drenched deserts of Arabia where ʿUmar once meant “long-lived, flourishing,” then gathering a second meaning in ancient Hebrew as “eloquent speaker,” and finally strolling, espresso in hand, onto the cobbled piazze of the modern world. On the tongue it glides like a deep “OH-mar,” rich and round, a syllabic duet as easy as an Italian lullaby whispered beneath a vine-draped balcony. History keeps it well-polished: Caliph ʿUmar, wise steward of a growing empire; the poet-astronomer Omar Khayyám, who weighed stars against ruby wine; cinematic legend Omar Sharif, whose dark eyes once held whole audiences captive; and today’s playful spirit of actor Omar Sy. In the United States the name has maintained a gentle, steady pulse—nestled within the Top 300 for more than a century—suggesting a quiet confidence that never bows to passing fashions. Omar, then, is a compact promise: life that endures, words that matter, and a touch of Mediterranean warmth that makes even the simplest introduction feel like the opening line of an epic sonnet.
Pronunciation
Arabic
- Pronunced as OH-mar (/oˈmaɾr/)
Hebrew
- Pronunced as oh-MAR (/oˈmaɿ/)
English
- Pronunced as OH-mar (/oˈmɑr/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Omar
| Omar Nelson Bradley was a United States Army five star general who became the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and oversaw military policy during the Korean War. |
| Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet and polymath from Nishapur, Iran, advanced mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and Persian literature during the Seljuk era around the time of the First Crusade. |
| Omar Sharif, a pioneering Egyptian actor, rose from 1950s Cairo to international fame as the first Arab to conquer Hollywood, appearing in over 100 films and winning three Golden Globes and a Cesar. |
| Omar Ali Saifuddien III - Omar Ali Saifuddien Saadul Khairi Waddien was the 28th Sultan of Brunei, ruling from 1950 to 1967 before abdicating to his eldest son Hassanal Bolkiah. |
| Omar Deghayes is a Libyan citizen and longtime UK resident who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, held without charge at Guantanamo until 2007, then returned to Britain, and says a guard blinded him in one eye. |
| Omar Vizquel is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop nicknamed Little O who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Mariners, Indians, Giants, Rangers, White Sox and Blue Jays and in Venezuela for Leones del Caracas. |
| Omar Bakri Muhammad is a Syrian Islamist militant from Aleppo who helped develop Hizb ut Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving to join Al Muhajiroun until its disbandment in 2004. |
| Omar Suleiman was an Egyptian general and longtime intelligence chief who briefly served as vice president in 2011, announcing the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak before withdrawing from public life. |
| Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Egyptian Islamist cleric known as the Blind Sheikh, was convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and served a life sentence in a US federal prison. |
| Omar Bundy was a career US Army general who served in the American Indian Wars, the Spanish American War, the Philippine American War, the Pancho Villa Expedition, and World War I. |
| Omar Torrijos was the de facto leader of Panama and head of the National Guard from 1968 to 1981, seizing power in a coup and, though never president, overseeing major social reforms. |
| University of California, Berkeley chemist Omar M. Yaghi is a member of the US and German national academies and in 2025 became the seventh president of the World Cultural Council. |
| Omar Abdullah is an Indian politician from Jammu and Kashmir, a former chief minister and Lok Sabha MP, current Jammu and Kashmir National Conference vice president, and former minister of state for external affairs. |
| Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Bakr Mahjour Umar - Omar Khalifa Mohammed Abu Bakr Mahjour Umar, a Libyan born in 1972 in Al Bayda, was held at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention camp from 2002 to 2016 under detainee number 695. |
| Omar al-Mukhtar - Omar al Mukhtar, the Lion of the Desert, was a Libyan Senussi imam and national hero who led resistance to Italian colonization from 1911 until his capture and execution in 1931. |
