Ajla
Of Arabic origin meaning "born at night" or "night-born beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 802 living Americans carry the first name Ajla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ajla today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ajla births was 2002 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ajla. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ajla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
802
~ 1 in 427,374 Americans
Peak year
2002
44 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,568
Tracked since 1997
Census
Ajla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 805 people with the first name Ajla, which placed it at #14,592 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,592
National first-name rank
People counted
805
805 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ajla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ajla is White at 95.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.7%) and Black (1.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ajla described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ajla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.7% · 770
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 14
- Black or African American1.2% · 10
- Two or more races0.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 5
Popularity
Ajla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ajla from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 364 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ajla remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ajla by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ajla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ajlas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Missouri, Illinois recorded the most babies named Ajla, while Michigan, Florida, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ajla
The name Ajla is believed to have originated from the Bosnian language, which is spoken primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as parts of Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia. It is a relatively modern name that gained popularity in the late 20th century.
While the exact etymology is uncertain, some sources suggest that Ajla could be a variation of the Arabic name Ayla or Aila, which means "something shining or brilliant." Others propose that it may be derived from the Turkish word "ay," meaning "moon," or the Arabic word "ahl," meaning "family" or "people."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ajla can be found in the 1980s, when it started gaining popularity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, there are no significant historical references or mentions of this name in ancient texts or religious scriptures.
Over the years, several notable individuals have borne the name Ajla. One of the most famous is Ajla Tomljanović, a Croatian professional tennis player born in 1993. Another is Ajla Del Ponte, a Swiss sprinter born in 1996, who specializes in the 100 and 200 meters.
In the world of music, Ajla Čengić is a Bosnian singer and songwriter born in 1991, known for her contributions to the Sevdah genre. Ajla Šemić, born in 1991, is a Bosnian model and beauty queen who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Miss Universe 2012 pageant.
Another notable figure is Ajla Koštrić, a Bosnian handball player born in 1990, who has represented her country in numerous international competitions and has won several medals.
While the name Ajla is primarily associated with the Bosnian language and culture, it has gained some recognition and popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in neighboring countries and regions with significant Bosnian diaspora populations.
People
Ajla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ajla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ajla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ajla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 802 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ajla going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 427,374 US residents.
Is Ajla a common name?
We classify Ajla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 811 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ajla most popular?
The single biggest year for Ajla was 2002, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ajla is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ajla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 805 people with the name Ajla, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,592 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ajla in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ajla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ajla appears almost entirely female. Of the 806 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ajla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ajla is White at 95.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.7%) and Black (1.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ajla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ajla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.7% (770 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ajla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ajla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ajla in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ajla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ajla in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ajla can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Ajla?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.