Jamar is a modern American name created in the African American community in the 1970s by pairing the prefix Ja- with the ending of Lamar, a French surname meaning "the pool" or "of the sea". It became a staple of the 1980s and 1990s, and the Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar keeps the sound current. Jamar ranked number 617 in 2000, peaked at number 575 in 2001 and has since fallen to number 2066 in 2025.