Jalonda
A feminine name with possible French origin meaning "crest of a hill".
Name Census estimates that about 142 living Americans carry the first name Jalonda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jalonda today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jalonda births was 1981 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jalonda. 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
142
~ 1 in 2,413,763 Americans
Peak year
1981
10 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2002 SSA rank
#16,509
Tracked since 1973
Census
Jalonda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 155 people with the first name Jalonda, which placed it at #44,540 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
#44,540
National first-name rank
People counted
155
155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jalonda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalonda is Black at 85.2%. The next largest groups are White (11.0%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Jalonda 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 Jalonda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.2% · 132
- White11.0% · 17
- Two or more races3.2% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 1
Popularity
Jalonda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jalonda from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 61 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
Jalonda 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 Jalonda 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 Jalonda
The name Jalonda is believed to have its origins in the Bantu languages of Central and Southern Africa. It is a combination of the Swahili words "jala," meaning "net," and "inda," meaning "great." The name was likely first used by the Swahili people of East Africa, who were known for their seafaring and fishing traditions.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Jalonda can be found in the 16th-century Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's accounts of his travels along the East African coast. He described encountering a Swahili chief named Jalonda, who ruled over a coastal settlement.
In the 17th century, the name Jalonda appeared in the writings of the Dutch explorer Willem Bosman, who documented his encounters with various African communities during his travels. He mentioned a Swahili woman named Jalonda who was renowned for her skilled weaving of fishing nets.
The first known historical figure to bear the name Jalonda was a Swahili princess who lived in the early 19th century. She was known for her diplomatic skills and played a significant role in maintaining peace between the coastal city-states of East Africa.
Another notable Jalonda was a Swahili poet and storyteller who lived in the late 19th century. Her works, which were passed down orally, celebrated the rich cultural heritage of the Swahili people and their traditions.
In the 20th century, Jalonda Maseko was a South African activist who fought against apartheid. She was born in 1925 and spent many years working to promote equality and human rights for all South Africans.
Jalonda Ingram was an American educator and community leader who lived from 1938 to 2015. She dedicated her life to empowering underprivileged youth through education and mentorship programs.
Jalonda Ferguson was a renowned Jamaican dancer and choreographer who lived from 1950 to 2018. She was instrumental in preserving and promoting traditional Jamaican dance forms and contributed significantly to the island's cultural heritage.
People
Jalonda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jalonda 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
Jalonda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jalonda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 142 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jalonda 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 2,413,763 US residents.
Is Jalonda a common name?
We classify Jalonda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jalonda most popular?
The single biggest year for Jalonda was 1981, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jalonda is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jalonda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 155 people with the name Jalonda, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,540 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 Jalonda 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 Jalonda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalonda leans strongly female. 163 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Jalonda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalonda is Black at 85.2%. The next largest groups are White (11.0%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Jalonda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jalonda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (132 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 Jalonda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jalonda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jalonda 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 Jalonda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jalonda 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 Jalonda 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 called Jalonda?
Find out how many Americans are named Jalonda on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.