Belal
A masculine Arabic name meaning "one who lives with integrity".
Name Census estimates that about 684 living Americans carry the first name Belal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Belal today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Belal births was 2003 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Belal. 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 Belal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
684
~ 1 in 501,103 Americans
Peak year
2003
28 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,198
Tracked since 1977
Census
Belal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,054 people with the first name Belal, which placed it at #11,975 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
#11,975
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,054 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Belal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Belal is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.1%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Belal 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 Belal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.5% · 722
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.1% · 201
- Two or more races6.2% · 65
- Black or African American4.7% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Belal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Belal from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 192 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Belal remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Belal 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 Belal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Belals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Michigan, Illinois recorded the most babies named Belal, while New York, Illinois, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Belal
The name Belal has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Arabic root word "balal," which means "moisture" or "wetness." This root word is also found in other Arabic names such as Bilal and Balal.
In Islamic tradition, Belal is believed to be a variant of the name Bilal ibn Rabah, a former Abyssinian slave who became one of the most trusted and revered companions of the Prophet Muhammad. Bilal was chosen by Muhammad to be the first muezzin, the caller to prayer, in the early days of Islam. His story is widely celebrated in Islamic literature and poetry for his unwavering faith and devotion.
The earliest recorded use of the name Belal can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the early years of the Islamic era. It appears in some historical records and manuscripts from that period, although its popularity and widespread use likely came later.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Belal was Belal al-Baghdadi, a renowned Islamic scholar and historian who lived in the 9th century CE. He was born in Baghdad and is known for his works on the history of Islamic jurisprudence and hadith studies.
Another influential figure was Belal ibn Yahya, a 10th-century Arabic poet and literary critic from Cordoba, Spain. He was a prominent figure in the literary circles of the Umayyad Caliphate and is renowned for his works on Arabic poetry and literary criticism.
In the 12th century, Belal al-Dimashqi was a Syrian geographer and traveler who wrote extensively about his journeys across the Middle East and North Africa. His accounts provide valuable insights into the geography, culture, and society of the region during that time.
During the Ottoman Empire, Belal Efendi was a notable Ottoman statesman and diplomat who served as the Grand Vizier (prime minister) in the 16th century. He played a significant role in the administration and governance of the empire during his tenure.
More recently, Belal Fadl was an Egyptian writer, journalist, and literary critic who lived in the 20th century. He was a prominent figure in the Arabic literary world and is known for his contributions to modern Arabic literature and literary criticism.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Belal. While the name has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has transcended borders and has been adopted by various cultures and communities around the world.
People
Belal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Belal as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Belal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Belal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 684 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Belal 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 501,103 US residents.
Is Belal a common name?
We classify Belal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 697 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Belal most popular?
The single biggest year for Belal was 2003, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Belal is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Belal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,054 people with the name Belal, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,975 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 Belal 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 Belal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Belal appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,059 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Belal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Belal is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.1%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Belal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Belal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (722 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 Belal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Belal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Belal in the SSA data are male. 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 Belal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Belal 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 Belal 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 are named Belal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.