Jahmar
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "moonlight" or "shining moon".
Name Census estimates that about 538 living Americans carry the first name Jahmar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jahmar today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jahmar births was 2002 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jahmar. 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 Jahmar with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
538
~ 1 in 637,090 Americans
Peak year
2002
20 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,977
Tracked since 1974
Census
Jahmar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 415 people with the first name Jahmar, which placed it at #23,539 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
#23,539
National first-name rank
People counted
415
415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jahmar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jahmar is Black at 85.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Jahmar 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 Jahmar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.5% · 355
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 24
- Two or more races5.8% · 24
- White2.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Popularity
Jahmar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jahmar 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 166 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
Jahmar 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 Jahmar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jahmars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jahmar
The name Jahmar has its origins in the Arabic language, and it is believed to have emerged during the medieval period in the Middle East. The name is derived from the Arabic root words "jahm" and "ar," which together translate to "glowing coal" or "burning ember."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jahmar can be found in Islamic historical texts from the 9th century, where it was mentioned as the name of a renowned scholar and philosopher from the city of Baghdad. This individual, known as Jahmar al-Basri, made significant contributions to the fields of theology and metaphysics during the Abbasid Caliphate.
In the 11th century, there are accounts of a Sufi mystic and poet from Persia named Jahmar al-Din Rumi, whose profound spiritual writings and poetry have had a lasting impact on Islamic literature and mysticism. He is often regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of Persian literature.
During the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, which spanned from the 13th to the 16th centuries, the name Jahmar was associated with several prominent military leaders and commanders. One such figure was Jahmar al-Khalili, a skilled general who played a crucial role in defending the Mamluk territories against the Mongol invasions.
In the 15th century, a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from the city of Fez, Morocco, named Jahmar al-Fasi, gained recognition for his contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence and his influential legal treatises.
Another notable figure bearing the name Jahmar was Jahmar al-Andalusi, a mathematician and astronomer from the Andalusian region of Spain during the 12th century. His works on advanced mathematical concepts and astronomical observations were highly regarded in the Islamic world and contributed to the advancement of these fields during that era.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who carried the name Jahmar, demonstrating its rich cultural heritage and significance within the Arabic and Islamic traditions. The name has endured through the centuries, serving as a testament to the diverse and influential individuals who have borne it.
People
Jahmar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jahmar 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
Jahmar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jahmar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 538 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jahmar 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 637,090 US residents.
Is Jahmar a common name?
We classify Jahmar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jahmar most popular?
The single biggest year for Jahmar was 2002, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jahmar is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jahmar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 415 people with the name Jahmar, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,539 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 Jahmar 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 Jahmar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jahmar leans strongly male. 410 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Jahmar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jahmar is Black at 85.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Jahmar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jahmar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.5% (355 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 Jahmar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jahmar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jahmar 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 Jahmar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jahmar 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 Jahmar 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 Jahmar as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jahmar, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.