Jamil
A masculine Arabic name meaning "handsome" or "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 7,428 living Americans carry the first name Jamil. It is a predominantly male name (96.7% of registrations). The average person named Jamil today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamil births was 1991 (222 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamil. 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 Jamil with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jamil is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 254 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
7.4K
~ 1 in 46,144 Americans
Peak year
1991
222 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,400
Tracked since 1931
Census
Jamil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,432 people with the first name Jamil, which placed it at #3,013 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
#3,013
National first-name rank
People counted
7.4K
7,432 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamil is Black at 49.4%. The next largest groups are White (20.8%) and Hispanic (14.2%). 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 Jamil 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 Jamil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.4% · 3,670
- White20.8% · 1,547
- Hispanic or Latino14.2% · 1,053
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.5% · 703
- Two or more races5.8% · 429
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Jamil
Jamil leans heavily male at 96.7% of total registrations, but 254 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jamil as a male name
- Ranked #2,400 in 2024
- 58 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (214 births)
Jamil as a female name
- Ranked #18,318 in 2006
- 5 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1983 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamil leans strongly male. 7,155 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 273 female bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Jamil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamil from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,811 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
Jamil 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 Jamil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. New Jersey, New York, California recorded the most babies named Jamil, while Wisconsin, Oregon, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 210 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jamil
The name Jamil has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic root word "jamala," which means "beauty" or "elegance." In the early days of Islam, the name was often given to boys as a reflection of their parents' wish for them to possess inner and outer beauty.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jamil can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. In Surah Al-Insan (Chapter 76, Verse 11), the term "jameel" is used to describe the reward of Paradise, highlighting its beauty and splendor.
The name gained popularity in the Middle East and spread to other regions as Islam expanded. In the 8th century AD, Jamil ibn Ma'mar al-Udwani was a renowned Arab poet and scholar known for his eloquence and literary contributions.
During the medieval period, Jamil al-Din al-Afghani, born in 1838, was an influential Islamic philosopher and political activist who advocated for Pan-Islamic unity and reforms against Western imperialism.
In the modern era, Jamil Naqsh, born in 1938, was a celebrated Pakistani artist renowned for his calligraphic paintings and contributions to the contemporary art scene in South Asia.
Another notable figure was Jamil Ahmad, born in 1933, a renowned Pakistani nuclear physicist who played a crucial role in the country's nuclear program and served as the chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
Jamil DeBody, born in 1912, was a prominent French writer and philosopher who explored existential themes and the human condition through his literary works.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Jamil, reflecting its enduring appeal across cultures and centuries.
People
Jamil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamil 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
Jamil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,428 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamil 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 46,144 US residents.
Is Jamil a common name?
We classify Jamil as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,686 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamil most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamil was 1991, when 222 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamil is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jamil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,432 people with the name Jamil, or 2.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,013 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 Jamil 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 Jamil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamil leans strongly male. 7,155 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 273 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Jamil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamil is Black at 49.4%. The next largest groups are White (20.8%) and Hispanic (14.2%). 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 Jamil most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jamil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.4% (3,670 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 Jamil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamil a male name?
Yes, 96.7% of people registered as Jamil 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 Jamil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamil 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 Jamil 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 Jamil?
See how many people have the name Jamil on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.