Given name & surname
Amadou
“one who loves God”
Amadou is a masculine given name from Arabic. It is used in French.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Amadou goes back to Arabic أحمد, meaning “one who loves God.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1992. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Amadou through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,217
- 1,217 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2008
- 59 babies
- 2025
- 40
- #3,037 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +1%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 40 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 3,037 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 0.5% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 59 in 2008. In 2025, Ohio had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (13). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,275 as a first name in 2020; 294 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Amadou’s family of names
Amadou has a conventional equivalent in the French form Amédée. In Wolof usage, Amadou has a conventional equivalent in the Kurdish form EHMED.
The ring: across languages.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Amadou
- Amadou Toumani TouréMalian soldier and politician1948–2020
- Jean TiganaFrench football managerborn 1955
- Amadou OnanaBelgian association football player (born 2001)
- Amadou HaidaraMalian association football player (born 1998)
- Amadou Hampâté BâMalian writer, historian and ethnologist1899–1991
- Amadou DiawaraGuinean association football playerborn 1997
- Amadou Gon CoulibalyIvorian politician (1959–2020)
- Amadou SanogoMalian military officerborn 1972
- Amadou-Mahtar M'BowSenegalese politician (1921–2024)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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