Lamar is a French surname that comes from la mare, "the pool", and was first used as a given name in the American South in honor of the Lamar family of Georgia and Texas. The rapper Kendrick Lamar and the quarterback Lamar Jackson keep it in the public eye today. Lamar ranked number 638 in 2000, fell out of the top 1000 in 2018 and stands at number 1517 in 2025.