Jaber
Strong or powerful, a masculine name of Arabic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 141 living Americans carry the first name Jaber. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jaber today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jaber births was 2024 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jaber. 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 Jaber with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
141
~ 1 in 2,430,882 Americans
Peak year
2024
13 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,589
Tracked since 1982
Census
Jaber in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 379 people with the first name Jaber, which placed it at #25,119 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
#25,119
National first-name rank
People counted
379
379 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jaber
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaber is White at 66.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.7%) and Two or More Races (8.7%). 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 Jaber 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 Jaber at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.8% · 253
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.7% · 48
- Two or more races8.7% · 33
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 25
- Black or African American5.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Jaber: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jaber from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 67 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jaber remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jaber 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 Jaber 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 Jaber
The name Jaber has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the root word "jabr," which means "to consolidate" or "to restore." The name gained popularity in the Middle East and North Africa during the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Jaber was Jaber ibn Hayyan, a renowned polymath and alchemist who lived in the 8th century. He is considered the father of modern chemistry and made significant contributions to the field of alchemy, including the development of various laboratory techniques and the discovery of several chemical compounds.
In the 10th century, Jaber ibn Aflah, an Andalusian astronomer and mathematician, gained recognition for his work on spherical trigonometry and the development of improved methods for calculating the positions of celestial bodies. His contributions played a crucial role in the advancement of astronomy during the Islamic Golden Age.
Another notable figure with the name Jaber was Jaber ibn Abdallah, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a prominent scholar of Islamic jurisprudence. He lived in the 7th century and is known for his narrations and interpretations of the Hadith, the recorded sayings and traditions of the Prophet.
In the 12th century, Jaber ibn Samura al-Hawari, a Moroccan poet and scholar, gained fame for his poetic works and his expertise in various fields, including literature, linguistics, and Islamic sciences. His poetry was widely celebrated and influenced subsequent generations of Arab poets.
Fast-forwarding to the modern era, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the late Emir of Kuwait from 1977 to 2006, was a prominent figure with the name Jaber. He played a significant role in the development and modernization of Kuwait, overseeing the country's reconstruction efforts after the Gulf War and promoting economic and social reforms.
The name Jaber has a rich history and has been borne by numerous influential individuals throughout the centuries. Its Arabic origins and associations with the Islamic Golden Age have contributed to its enduring popularity in the Middle East and among Muslim communities worldwide.
People
Jaber + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jaber as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jaber: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jaber?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 141 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jaber 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 2,430,882 US residents.
Is Jaber a common name?
We classify Jaber as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 143 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jaber most popular?
The single biggest year for Jaber was 2024, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jaber is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jaber in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 379 people with the name Jaber, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,119 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 Jaber 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 Jaber?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaber appears almost entirely male. Of the 379 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Jaber?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaber is White at 66.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.7%) and Two or More Races (8.7%). 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 Jaber most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jaber in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.8% (253 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 Jaber in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jaber a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jaber 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 Jaber still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jaber 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 Jaber 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 have the name Jaber?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.