Jamelah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "beautiful" or "good-looking".
Name Census estimates that about 147 living Americans carry the first name Jamelah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jamelah today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamelah births was 1992 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamelah. 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 Jamelah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
147
~ 1 in 2,331,662 Americans
Peak year
1992
8 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2020 SSA rank
#16,127
Tracked since 1977
Census
Jamelah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 202 people with the first name Jamelah, which placed it at #38,178 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
#38,178
National first-name rank
People counted
202
202 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
62.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamelah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamelah is Black at 62.9%. The next largest groups are White (19.3%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Jamelah 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 Jamelah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American62.9% · 127
- White19.3% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 14
- Two or more races5.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2
Popularity
Jamelah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamelah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 50 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
Jamelah 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 Jamelah 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 Jamelah
The name Jamelah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "jamal" which means beauty or elegance. It is a feminine name that has been used for centuries in the Arab world and among Muslim communities around the globe.
The earliest known usage of the name Jamelah can be traced back to the 7th century, during the time of the Islamic Golden Age. It is believed to have been inspired by the Arabic word "jameel" which means beautiful or handsome. The name was particularly popular among the noble and scholarly classes of the time, as it symbolized grace and refinement.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Jamelah was Jamelah bint al-Harith, a prominent Arabian poet who lived in the 7th century. Her poetry was renowned for its elegance and beauty, and she was celebrated as a literary figure during her lifetime.
In the 12th century, Jamelah bint al-Qadir al-Baghdadi was a renowned scholar and mystic from Baghdad. She was respected for her knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the field of Sufism.
During the Ottoman Empire, Jamelah Sultan was a notable figure in the 16th century. She was the daughter of Sultan Selim II and played a significant role in the political and cultural life of the Ottoman court.
In the 19th century, Jamelah Khanum was a revered Persian poet and calligrapher. Her works were widely celebrated for their beauty and artistic expression.
More recently, Jamelah Arif was a Pakistani writer and activist who lived from 1924 to 2005. She was a prominent figure in the women's rights movement in Pakistan and worked tirelessly to promote education and empowerment for women.
While the name Jamelah has its roots in the Arab world, it has been embraced by diverse cultures and communities around the globe, reflecting its timeless appeal and association with beauty and grace.
People
Jamelah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamelah 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
Jamelah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamelah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamelah 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 2,331,662 US residents.
Is Jamelah a common name?
We classify Jamelah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 152 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamelah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamelah was 1992, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamelah is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jamelah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 202 people with the name Jamelah, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,178 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 Jamelah 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 Jamelah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamelah leans strongly female. 202 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Jamelah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamelah is Black at 62.9%. The next largest groups are White (19.3%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Jamelah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jamelah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.9% (127 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 Jamelah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamelah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jamelah 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 Jamelah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamelah 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 Jamelah 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 Jamelah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.