Chaka
A masculine South African Zulu name meaning "single kingdom" or "one nation."
Name Census estimates that about 1,020 living Americans carry the first name Chaka. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Chaka today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chaka births was 1976 (167 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chaka. 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.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 336,034 Americans
Peak year
1976
167 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2001 SSA rank
#9,449
Tracked since 1968
Census
Chaka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 970 people with the first name Chaka, which placed it at #12,724 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
#12,724
National first-name rank
People counted
970
970 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chaka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaka is Black at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Chaka 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 Chaka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.6% · 869
- Two or more races4.9% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 25
- White1.6% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Chaka
Chaka is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,103 total registrations, 262 (23.8%) were male and 841 (76.2%) were female.
Chaka as a male name
- Ranked #9,449 in 2001
- 6 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1972 (27 births)
Chaka as a female name
- Ranked #11,750 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1976 (147 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chaka on both sides of the split. Of the 972 people counted with this name, 266 were male (27.4%) and 706 were female (72.6%).
Popularity
Chaka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chaka from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 695 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chaka 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 Chaka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chakas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Chaka, while Ohio, Virginia, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chaka
The name Chaka is derived from the Nguni language family, which includes Zulu, Xhosa, and Ndebele, among others. This language group is predominant in parts of southern Africa, particularly in present-day South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland. The name is believed to have originated during the late 18th or early 19th century.
In the Zulu language, Chaka is a variant spelling of the name Shaka, which means "intestinal beetle" or "defiant one." This name is closely associated with the legendary Zulu king, Shaka Zulu, who ruled the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. He is renowned for his military prowess and his role in transforming the Zulu into a formidable fighting force.
The earliest known historical figure bearing the name Chaka was Chaka Zulu, the son of Shaka Zulu and his wife Nandi. Chaka Zulu played a significant role in the succession of power after his father's assassination in 1828.
Another notable figure named Chaka was Chaka Ngcobo, a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the Chief Whip of the African National Congress in the National Assembly of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
In the realm of sports, Chaka Zulu, born Ahmed Ahmed, is an American music executive and former bodyguard who has worked with several high-profile artists, including P. Diddy and Tupac Shakur.
Chaka Khan, born Yvette Marie Stevens in 1953, is an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. She has won ten Grammy Awards and has been dubbed the "Queen of Funk."
While the name Chaka has its roots in the Zulu culture, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions, particularly in parts of Africa and among the African diaspora in the United States and other countries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Chaka
People
Chaka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chaka as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chaka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chaka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,020 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chaka 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 336,034 US residents.
Is Chaka a common name?
We classify Chaka as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,103 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chaka most popular?
The single biggest year for Chaka was 1976, when 167 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chaka is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chaka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 970 people with the name Chaka, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,724 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 Chaka 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 Chaka?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chaka on both sides of the split. Of the 972 people counted with this name, 266 were male (27.4%) and 706 were female (72.6%). 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 Chaka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaka is Black at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Chaka most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chaka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (869 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 Chaka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chaka a female name?
Yes, 76.2% of people registered as Chaka 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 Chaka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chaka 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 Chaka 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 Americans are named Chaka?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.