Jameelah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 1,246 living Americans carry the first name Jameelah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jameelah today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jameelah births was 1978 (82 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jameelah. 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 Jameelah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 275,084 Americans
Peak year
1978
82 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,633
Tracked since 1969
Census
Jameelah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,059 people with the first name Jameelah, which placed it at #11,928 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
#11,928
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,059 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jameelah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jameelah is Black at 80.0%. The next largest groups are White (7.1%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Jameelah 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 Jameelah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.0% · 847
- White7.1% · 75
- Two or more races6.3% · 67
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Jameelah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jameelah from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 330 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jameelah 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 Jameelah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jameelahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Jameelah, while Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jameelah
Jameelah is a feminine given name of Arabic origin, derived from the Arabic word "jameel" meaning "beautiful" or "comely." This name has been in use in various parts of the Arab world and the broader Muslim world for centuries.
The name traces its roots back to the Arabic language, which is a Semitic language that originated in the Arabian Peninsula during the 6th century CE. The word "jameel" is an adjective that describes physical beauty as well as inner beauty, grace, and virtue.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jameelah can be found in the 8th century CE, when it was mentioned in Arabic literature and poetry. The name gained popularity during the medieval Islamic Golden Age, a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing that spanned from the 8th to the 13th century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jameelah. One prominent example is Jameelah Ismail (1934-2012), a American writer and former diplomat who embraced Islam and wrote extensively about it. Another is Jameelah X (1944-2005), an African-American activist and former member of the Nation of Islam.
In the realm of literature, Jameelah Siddiqui (1947-2021) was a Pakistani author and scholar known for her works on Islamic theology and spirituality. The name has also been associated with figures in the arts, such as Jameelah Saddique (1936-2018), a Pakistani classical singer and performer.
Among historical figures, Jameelah bint Abi Sufyan (602-673 CE) was a prominent companion of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the earliest converts to Islam. She is revered in Islamic tradition for her piety and dedication to the faith.
While the name Jameelah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, transcending cultural and religious boundaries. The name's association with beauty, grace, and virtue has contributed to its enduring appeal across different societies.
People
Jameelah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jameelah 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
Jameelah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jameelah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jameelah 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 275,084 US residents.
Is Jameelah a common name?
We classify Jameelah as "Rare". It ranks above 91.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,302 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jameelah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jameelah was 1978, when 82 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jameelah is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jameelah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,059 people with the name Jameelah, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,928 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 Jameelah 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 Jameelah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jameelah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,065 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Jameelah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jameelah is Black at 80.0%. The next largest groups are White (7.1%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Jameelah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jameelah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (847 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 Jameelah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jameelah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jameelah 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 Jameelah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jameelah 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 Jameelah 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 Americans are named Jameelah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Jameelah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.