Jalilah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "noble, exalted, or revered one".
Name Census estimates that about 235 living Americans carry the first name Jalilah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jalilah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jalilah births was 2024 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jalilah. 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 Jalilah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
235
~ 1 in 1,458,529 Americans
Peak year
2024
19 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,237
Tracked since 1993
Census
Jalilah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 190 people with the first name Jalilah, which placed it at #39,614 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
#39,614
National first-name rank
People counted
190
190 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jalilah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalilah is Black at 54.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.4%) and White (13.2%). 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 Jalilah 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 Jalilah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.7% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino17.4% · 33
- White13.2% · 25
- Two or more races8.9% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Jalilah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jalilah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 111 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jalilah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jalilah 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 Jalilah 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 Jalilah
The name Jalilah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "jalal," which translates to "glory" or "majesty." It is a feminine name that has been in use for centuries, particularly among Muslim communities.
Jalilah can also be traced back to the Arabic word "jalil," meaning "grand" or "exalted." The name carries a sense of reverence and respect, often associated with divine greatness and beauty.
In Islamic tradition, the name Jalilah is related to one of the 99 names or attributes of Allah, Al-Jalil, which means "The Majestic One." This connection adds a spiritual dimension to the name, reflecting the belief in the greatness and magnificence of God.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jalilah can be found in historical texts and records from the medieval Islamic world. One notable figure bearing this name was Jalilah bint Zubair (c. 610-680 CE), a prominent Muslim scholar and teacher from the early days of Islam.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Jalilah. One such figure was Jalilah Iskandar (1894-1970), an Egyptian feminist and political activist who fought for women's rights and participated in the Egyptian revolution of 1919.
Another influential Jalilah was Jalilah al-Murahhalah (c. 1050-1107 CE), a renowned Arabic poet and literary figure from al-Andalus (modern-day Spain). Her poetry and writings earned her widespread acclaim during her lifetime and continue to be studied and appreciated today.
In the 20th century, Jalilah Kamal (1911-1998) was a prominent Egyptian writer and novelist known for her works that explored the struggles and experiences of women in Egyptian society.
Jalilah Esseidly (1942-2016) was a Moroccan-Dutch author and activist who worked tirelessly to promote intercultural understanding and women's empowerment, particularly within the Moroccan-Dutch community.
While the name Jalilah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also gained popularity in other regions and cultures over time, reflecting the global reach and appeal of this beautiful and meaningful name.
People
Jalilah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jalilah 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
Jalilah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jalilah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 235 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jalilah 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 1,458,529 US residents.
Is Jalilah a common name?
We classify Jalilah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 237 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jalilah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jalilah was 2024, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jalilah is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jalilah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 190 people with the name Jalilah, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,614 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 Jalilah 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 Jalilah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalilah leans strongly female. 187 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Jalilah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalilah is Black at 54.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.4%) and White (13.2%). 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 Jalilah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jalilah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.7% (104 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 Jalilah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jalilah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jalilah 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 Jalilah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jalilah 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 Jalilah 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 common is the name Jalilah?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Jalilah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.