Ijah
An Arabic feminine name meaning "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 67 living Americans carry the first name Ijah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Ijah today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ijah births was 2002 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ijah. 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 Ijah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ijah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
67
~ 1 in 5,115,736 Americans
Peak year
2002
11 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,944
Tracked since 1997
Census
Ijah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 147 people with the first name Ijah, which placed it at #45,869 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
#45,869
National first-name rank
People counted
147
147 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ijah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ijah is Black at 76.9%. The next largest groups are White (8.8%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Ijah 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 Ijah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.9% · 113
- White8.8% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 10
- Two or more races5.4% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Ijah
Ijah leans heavily female at 83.8% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ijah as a male name
- Ranked #12,944 in 2016
- 5 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2008 (6 births)
Ijah as a female name
- Ranked #13,706 in 2013
- 7 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2002 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ijah on both sides of the split. Of the 148 people counted with this name, 56 were male (37.8%) and 92 were female (62.2%).
Popularity
Ijah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ijah from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 45 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ijah 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 Ijah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ijah
The name Ijah is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language and culture, with its roots traced back to the biblical times of ancient Israel. It is a variant spelling of the more common name Iyah, which is derived from the Hebrew word "Yah," a shortened form of the name "Yahweh," the personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible.
In the Old Testament, the name Ijah is mentioned as the name of a descendant of Judah, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. This historical reference can be found in the Book of Chronicles, which records the genealogies of the Israelites. However, beyond this biblical mention, there is limited information available about the specific meaning or significance of the name Ijah in ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ijah was a Jewish scholar and poet, Ijah ben Shlomo al-Nishaburi, who lived in the 11th century CE in Persia (modern-day Iran). He was known for his contributions to Hebrew poetry and his commentaries on the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
Another notable figure with the name Ijah was Ijah Hayyim ben Joseph Azulay, a renowned 18th-century Moroccan-born Sephardic rabbi and kabbalist. He authored several influential works on Jewish law and mysticism, including the widely studied "Chida" commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, a codification of Jewish religious law.
In more recent history, Ijah Anderson, an African American woman born in 1892, played a significant role in the civil rights movement in the United States. She was a prominent activist and organizer who advocated for voting rights and fought against racial segregation and discrimination in the early 20th century.
Another individual named Ijah was Ijah Jeffries, an American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1980s and 1990s. He was born in 1964 and is remembered for his successful career with teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
While the name Ijah is relatively uncommon, it has been carried by several notable individuals throughout history, spanning various fields such as religion, literature, civil rights, and sports. Despite its Hebrew origins and biblical references, the name has transcended cultural boundaries and has been adopted by people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities.
People
Ijah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ijah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ijah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ijah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ijah 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 5,115,736 US residents.
Is Ijah a common name?
We classify Ijah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 68 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ijah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ijah was 2002, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ijah is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ijah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 147 people with the name Ijah, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,869 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 Ijah 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 Ijah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ijah on both sides of the split. Of the 148 people counted with this name, 56 were male (37.8%) and 92 were female (62.2%). 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 Ijah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ijah is Black at 76.9%. The next largest groups are White (8.8%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Ijah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ijah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (113 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 Ijah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ijah a female name?
Yes, 83.8% of people registered as Ijah 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 Ijah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ijah 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 Ijah 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 Ijah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.