Aqueelah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "the precious one" or "the valuable one".
Name Census estimates that about 300 living Americans carry the first name Aqueelah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aqueelah today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aqueelah births was 1977 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aqueelah. 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 Aqueelah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
300
~ 1 in 1,142,514 Americans
Peak year
1977
37 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1996 SSA rank
#11,945
Tracked since 1976
Census
Aqueelah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 286 people with the first name Aqueelah, which placed it at #30,451 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
#30,451
National first-name rank
People counted
286
286 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
93.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aqueelah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aqueelah is Black at 93.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Aqueelah 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 Aqueelah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American93.0% · 266
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 9
- Two or more races3.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Aqueelah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aqueelah from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 150 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Aqueelah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aqueelah 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 Aqueelah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aqueelahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Aqueelah, while New York, Georgia, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aqueelah
The name Aqueelah is of Arabic origin, derived from the Arabic word "aqila," which means "intelligent" or "wise." The name has been in use since ancient times within the Arab world and the broader Islamic civilization.
In Islamic history, the name Aqueelah is mentioned in several religious texts and scriptures, though not as a specific person but rather as a descriptive term for someone possessing wisdom and intellect. The name's roots can be traced back to the 7th century, during the formative years of Islam.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Aqueelah is found in the writings of the renowned Arab philosopher and scholar, Al-Kindi, who lived in the 9th century CE. He referred to a female student of his as "Aqueelah," praising her exceptional intelligence and thirst for knowledge.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Aqueelah was borne by several notable women in the Islamic world. One such figure was Aqueelah bint Al-Husayn, a renowned poet and scholar who lived in the 10th century in present-day Iraq. Her poetry and literary works were widely celebrated during her lifetime and continue to be studied by scholars of Arabic literature.
In the 12th century, Aqueelah al-Maqdisiyya was a prominent female jurist and theologian from Jerusalem. She was renowned for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the field of fiqh (Islamic law).
Another notable figure was Aqueelah al-Baghdadiyya, a 13th-century physician and scholar from Baghdad. She was celebrated for her expertise in medicine and her innovative approaches to treating various ailments.
Aqueelah bint Abi Bakr, born in the late 15th century in present-day Morocco, was a celebrated poet and calligrapher. Her works are still studied and admired by scholars of Arabic literature and calligraphy.
While the name Aqueelah has been in use for centuries, it has maintained its association with wisdom, intelligence, and scholarship, particularly within the Islamic tradition. The name's rich history and meaning have made it a popular choice for parents seeking a name that reflects these values.
People
Aqueelah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aqueelah 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
Aqueelah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aqueelah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aqueelah 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 1,142,514 US residents.
Is Aqueelah a common name?
We classify Aqueelah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 321 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aqueelah most popular?
The single biggest year for Aqueelah was 1977, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aqueelah is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aqueelah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 286 people with the name Aqueelah, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,451 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 Aqueelah 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 Aqueelah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aqueelah appears almost entirely female. Of the 285 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Aqueelah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aqueelah is Black at 93.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Aqueelah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aqueelah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.0% (266 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 Aqueelah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aqueelah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aqueelah 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 Aqueelah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aqueelah 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 Aqueelah 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 Aqueelah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.