Jalisa
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly an invented combination of letters.
Name Census estimates that about 5,982 living Americans carry the first name Jalisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jalisa today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jalisa births was 1989 (598 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jalisa. 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
6.0K
~ 1 in 57,298 Americans
Peak year
1989
598 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1989 SSA rank
#4,803
Tracked since 1980
Census
Jalisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,864 people with the first name Jalisa, which placed it at #3,998 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
#3,998
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,864 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jalisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalisa is Black at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and White (8.1%). 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 Jalisa 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 Jalisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.9% · 3,595
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 530
- White8.1% · 393
- Two or more races5.6% · 270
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Jalisa
Out of the 6,173 babies given the name Jalisa since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jalisa as a male name
- Ranked #7,367 in 1989
- 6 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (6 births)
Jalisa as a female name
- Ranked #4,803 in 2024
- 28 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (592 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,862 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jalisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jalisa from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 3,124 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jalisa 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 Jalisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jalisas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Georgia, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Jalisa, while Washington, Iowa, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 140 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jalisa
The name Jalisa is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, with roots tracing back to the Middle East and North Africa. The name is thought to be a combination of two Arabic words, "jalal" meaning "majesty" or "glory," and "isa" which is a variation of the name "Isa," referring to Jesus Christ.
In the Islamic tradition, Jalisa is often considered a feminine form of the name Jalal, which is one of the 99 attributes of God in the Qur'an. The name is associated with qualities such as grandeur, magnificence, and divine splendor. It is possible that the name was first used in regions with significant Muslim populations, such as the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, or parts of North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jalisa can be found in the historical chronicles of the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled a vast empire spanning from modern-day Iran to North Africa between the 8th and 13th centuries. During this period, the name was occasionally bestowed upon noble women or those of high social standing.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jalisa. One such figure was Jalisa al-Sultana (1230-1292), a renowned poet and scholar who lived during the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. Her works, primarily composed in Arabic, explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition.
Another prominent Jalisa was Jalisa bint Harun (1175-1244), a highly respected mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. She made significant contributions to the field of astrology and was widely recognized for her expertise in celestial calculations.
In the realm of literature, Jalisa al-Andalusi (1098-1164) was a celebrated writer and poet from the Iberian Peninsula during the Golden Age of Islamic civilization. Her works, written in both Arabic and Spanish, were widely acclaimed for their lyrical beauty and profound insights.
During the Ottoman Empire, Jalisa Hatun (1495-1565) was a notable figure known for her philanthropy and patronage of the arts. She established several educational institutions and supported the construction of mosques and other public buildings throughout the empire.
Lastly, Jalisa al-Qatari (1892-1976) was a pioneering educator and women's rights activist from Qatar. She founded one of the first schools for girls in the region and played a crucial role in promoting female education and empowerment in the Arabian Gulf.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Jalisa throughout history, each leaving their mark on various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural heritage across the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.
People
Jalisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jalisa 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
Jalisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jalisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,982 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jalisa 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 57,298 US residents.
Is Jalisa a common name?
We classify Jalisa as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,173 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jalisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Jalisa was 1989, when 598 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jalisa is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jalisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,864 people with the name Jalisa, or 1.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,998 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 Jalisa 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 Jalisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,862 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jalisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalisa is Black at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and White (8.1%). 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 Jalisa most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jalisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.9% (3,595 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 Jalisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jalisa a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Jalisa 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 Jalisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jalisa 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 Jalisa 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 are named Jalisa?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.