Jamell
Derived from the French Jacques, of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter".
Name Census estimates that about 2,146 living Americans carry the first name Jamell. It is a predominantly male name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Jamell today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamell births was 1989 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamell. 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 Jamell with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jamell is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 75 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 159,718 Americans
Peak year
1989
74 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,584
Tracked since 1967
Census
Jamell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,573 people with the first name Jamell, which placed it at #9,014 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
#9,014
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,573 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamell is Black at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Jamell 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 Jamell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.6% · 1,347
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 92
- Two or more races5.0% · 78
- White2.6% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Jamell
Jamell leans heavily male at 96.6% of total registrations, but 75 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jamell as a male name
- Ranked #8,584 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (74 births)
Jamell as a female name
- Ranked #9,573 in 1984
- 6 female births in 1984
- Peak: 1972 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamell leans strongly male. 1,458 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 124 female bearers (7.8%).
Popularity
Jamell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamell 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 651 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
Jamell 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 Jamell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Florida recorded the most babies named Jamell, while Texas, New Jersey, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jamell
The name Jamell has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century AD. It is a derivative of the Arabic word "jamal," which means "beauty" or "camel." The name is believed to have been popularized during the early Islamic era, when many Arabic names gained prominence across the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest known references to the name Jamell can be found in ancient Islamic texts and historical records from the 8th century. These accounts often mention individuals with this name, suggesting its widespread use among the Muslim population during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jamell. One such individual was Jamell ibn Naufal (680-744 AD), a renowned Arab poet and scholar from the Umayyad Caliphate. His literary works, which explored themes of love, nature, and philosophy, were widely celebrated during his lifetime and continue to be studied by scholars today.
Another prominent figure with the name Jamell was Jamell al-Din al-Aqfahsi (1220-1288 AD), a renowned Islamic philosopher and theologian from present-day Iraq. His influential writings on Islamic metaphysics and ethics had a lasting impact on the intellectual discourse of the time.
In the 14th century, Jamell ibn Battuta (1304-1369 AD), a renowned Moroccan explorer and traveler, embarked on a remarkable journey that spanned over 30 years and covered vast regions of Africa, Asia, and Europe. His detailed accounts of his travels, known as the "Rihla" (Travels), provided invaluable insights into the cultures, customs, and geography of the lands he visited.
During the 16th century, Jamell al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897 AD), an influential Islamic reformer and political activist, played a significant role in promoting modernization and advocating for Muslim unity. His ideas and writings inspired many subsequent movements for independence and reform across the Muslim world.
In more recent times, Jamell Showers (born 1989), an American professional football player, has achieved recognition for his athletic prowess. He played as a cornerback for several teams in the National Football League (NFL) and is remembered for his impressive performances on the field.
While the name Jamell has its roots in Arabic culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and communities over the centuries, transcending its linguistic and cultural boundaries to become a name recognized and celebrated globally.
People
Jamell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamell 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
Jamell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,146 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamell 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 159,718 US residents.
Is Jamell a common name?
We classify Jamell as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamell most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamell was 1989, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamell 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 Jamell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,573 people with the name Jamell, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,014 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 Jamell 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 Jamell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamell leans strongly male. 1,458 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 124 female bearers (7.8%). 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 Jamell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamell is Black at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Jamell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jamell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (1,347 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 Jamell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamell a male name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Jamell 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 Jamell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamell 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 Jamell 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 have the name Jamell?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Jamell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.