Amir

Amir carries authority lightly. In Arabic and Hebrew the root means prince, commander, or treetop, depending on the tradition, and the word has given English emir, admiral, and a host of honorifics across the Middle East and North Africa. As a given name Amir is beloved across Muslim, Jewish, and Persian households and has steadily ascended in American use, now sitting around the top 95 for boys. The two syllables, soft first, rolled second, are a small piece of architecture. Amir reads as quietly self-possessed, articulate, the kind of child who asks the adult question no one else will ask and listens carefully to the answer.