Jamiyah
An Arabic name meaning "society" or "community".
Name Census estimates that about 3,639 living Americans carry the first name Jamiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jamiyah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jamiyah births was 2007 (249 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jamiyah. 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 Jamiyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jamiyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 94,189 Americans
Peak year
2007
249 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,637
Tracked since 1994
Census
Jamiyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,425 people with the first name Jamiyah, which placed it at #6,574 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
#6,574
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,425 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jamiyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamiyah is Black at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.0%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Jamiyah 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 Jamiyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.2% · 2,235
- Two or more races4.0% · 97
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 65
- White0.9% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Jamiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jamiyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,726 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jamiyah 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 Jamiyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jamiyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jamiyah, while Wisconsin, Nevada, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 116 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jamiyah
The name Jamiyah is of Arabic origin and is believed to have derived from the root word "jama'a," which means "to gather" or "to collect." It is a feminine name that has been used in various parts of the Arab world for centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jamiyah can be found in ancient Islamic texts, where it was mentioned as a name given to women who were known for their ability to bring people together and foster a sense of community. This association with gathering and unity may have contributed to the name's popularity among Muslim families.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jamiyah. One such person was Jamiyah bint Abi Bakr (born in the late 6th century CE), who was the daughter of the first Caliph of Islam, Abu Bakr. She is remembered for her piety and her role in preserving the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.
Another prominent figure with the name Jamiyah was Jamiyah al-Baghdadi (1151-1233 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and poet from Baghdad. She was known for her expertise in various fields, including literature, grammar, and jurisprudence, and her works were widely studied and celebrated during her lifetime.
In the 14th century, Jamiyah bint Ahmad al-Hawari (1304-1378 CE) was a prominent Sufi mystic and teacher from Damascus. She was revered for her spiritual wisdom and her contributions to the development of Sufism in the region.
Jamiyah al-Gharnati (1424-1492 CE) was a celebrated poet and calligrapher from Granada, Spain, during the time of the Nasrid dynasty. Her works were highly regarded for their poetic beauty and elegance, and she is considered one of the most influential female writers of the Andalusian era.
In the 19th century, Jamiyah al-Husayni (1825-1891 CE) was a renowned scholar and educator from Jerusalem. She played a significant role in promoting women's education and establishing schools for girls in the city.
These are just a few examples of the notable individuals who have carried the name Jamiyah throughout history, reflecting the name's rich cultural and historical significance within the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Jamiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jamiyah 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
Jamiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jamiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,639 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jamiyah 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 94,189 US residents.
Is Jamiyah a common name?
We classify Jamiyah as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,677 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jamiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jamiyah was 2007, when 249 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jamiyah is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jamiyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,425 people with the name Jamiyah, or 0.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,574 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 Jamiyah 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 Jamiyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jamiyah leans strongly female. 2,391 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 32 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Jamiyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jamiyah is Black at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.0%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Jamiyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jamiyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (2,235 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 Jamiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jamiyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jamiyah 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 Jamiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jamiyah 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 Jamiyah 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 Jamiyah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Jamiyah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.