Jamai
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "gatherer" or "collator".
Name Census estimates that about 258 living Americans carry the first name Jamai. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Jamai today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamai births was 2004 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamai. 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 Jamai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
258
~ 1 in 1,328,505 Americans
Peak year
2004
29 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,033
Tracked since 1980
Census
Jamai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 294 people with the first name Jamai, which placed it at #29,893 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
#29,893
National first-name rank
People counted
294
294 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamai is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.6%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Jamai 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 Jamai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.1% · 215
- Two or more races11.6% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 18
- White5.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Jamai
Jamai leans heavily male at 89.7% of total registrations, but 27 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jamai as a male name
- Ranked #13,033 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (20 births)
Jamai as a female name
- Ranked #17,561 in 2015
- 5 female births in 2015
- Peak: 2004 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jamai on both sides of the split. Of the 295 people counted with this name, 182 were male (61.7%) and 113 were female (38.3%).
Popularity
Jamai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamai from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 123 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
Jamai 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 Jamai 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 Jamai
The name Jamai is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, deriving from the root word "jamaʿa," which means "to gather" or "to unite." Its earliest recorded use can be traced back to the medieval Islamic world, particularly in regions where Arabic was widely spoken or had a significant cultural influence.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Jamai was Jamai ibn Muqbil al-Wadiah, a renowned Islamic scholar and poet who lived in the 10th century CE in present-day Iraq. His poetry and writings on Islamic jurisprudence and theology were highly regarded during his time and continue to be studied by scholars to this day.
Another notable individual with the name Jamai was Jamai al-Din al-Afghani, a political activist, and Islamic reformer who lived in the 19th century (1838-1897). He played a significant role in the late 19th-century Islamic revivalist movement, advocating for a return to the fundamental principles of Islam and promoting anti-colonial sentiments across the Muslim world.
In the realm of literature, Jamai Eddine Bencheikh was a prominent Algerian writer and scholar who lived from 1930 to 2005. He was renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature, particularly his works on Sufism and Islamic mysticism. His writings explored the rich cultural heritage of the Arab world and its impact on contemporary society.
Another figure of note was Jamai Fazili, an Indian poet and Sufi mystic who lived in the 16th century. His poetic works, written in the Kashmiri language, are considered among the finest examples of Sufi literature from the region. His verses often explored themes of divine love, spirituality, and the human condition.
Lastly, Jamai Hasan al-Attar was a renowned Yemeni calligrapher and artist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (1851-1942). He was celebrated for his mastery of various calligraphic styles, particularly the Thuluth and Naskh scripts. His works adorned the walls of numerous mosques and religious institutions across Yemen and the broader Middle East.
People
Jamai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamai 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
Jamai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamai 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 1,328,505 US residents.
Is Jamai a common name?
We classify Jamai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamai most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamai was 2004, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamai is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jamai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 294 people with the name Jamai, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,893 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 Jamai 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 Jamai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jamai on both sides of the split. Of the 295 people counted with this name, 182 were male (61.7%) and 113 were female (38.3%). 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 Jamai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamai is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.6%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Jamai most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jamai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (215 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 Jamai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamai a male name?
Yes, 89.7% of people registered as Jamai 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 Jamai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamai 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 Jamai 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 Jamai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.