Jarel
A masculine name of English origin meaning "squire, petty officer".
Name Census estimates that about 1,124 living Americans carry the first name Jarel. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Jarel today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jarel births was 2009 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jarel. 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 Jarel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 304,942 Americans
Peak year
2009
45 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,481
Tracked since 1925
Census
Jarel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,025 people with the first name Jarel, which placed it at #12,212 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
#12,212
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,025 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jarel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jarel is Black at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.5%) and White (12.0%). 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 Jarel 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 Jarel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.1% · 544
- Hispanic or Latino24.5% · 251
- White12.0% · 123
- Two or more races5.9% · 60
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Jarel
Out of the 1,156 babies given the name Jarel since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jarel as a male name
- Ranked #11,481 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (41 births)
Jarel as a female name
- Ranked #16,054 in 2009
- 6 female births in 2009
- Peak: 2009 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jarel leans strongly male. 984 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 40 female bearers (3.9%).
Popularity
Jarel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jarel from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 328 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
Jarel 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 Jarel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jarels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Jarel, while New Jersey, Illinois, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jarel
The name Jarel is a relatively uncommon given name with roots dating back to ancient Hebrew texts and traditions. Its origins can be traced to the Hebrew word "yarah," which means "to throw or shoot," suggesting a connection to archery or warfare.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jarel appears in the Book of Chronicles, a historical record from the Hebrew Bible. In this text, Jarel is mentioned as a descendant of the tribe of Gad, one of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Jarel remained obscure, with few notable individuals bearing this moniker. However, in the 16th century, a Jewish scholar and philosopher named Jarel ben Judah lived in Spain during the tumultuous period of the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834).
In the 18th century, a French botanist named Jarel de Villarceaux (1703-1775) made significant contributions to the study of plant life, particularly in the classification of various species found in the Caribbean region.
Moving into the 19th century, Jarel Williamson (1812-1887) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania between 1859 and 1863.
More recently, Jarel Portman (1901-1985), a British architect and urban planner, left a lasting legacy through his innovative designs for pedestrian-friendly cities, including the renowned Portman Village in Atlanta, Georgia.
Another notable individual with the name Jarel is Jarel Burnett (born 1975), an American former professional basketball player who spent several seasons in the NBA, playing for teams such as the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks.
While the name Jarel has maintained a relatively low profile throughout history, its unique sound and intriguing origins have ensured its enduring presence in various cultures and societies across the globe.
People
Jarel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jarel 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
Jarel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jarel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,124 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jarel 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 304,942 US residents.
Is Jarel a common name?
We classify Jarel as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,156 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jarel most popular?
The single biggest year for Jarel was 2009, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jarel is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jarel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,025 people with the name Jarel, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,212 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 Jarel 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 Jarel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jarel leans strongly male. 984 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 40 female bearers (3.9%). 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 Jarel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jarel is Black at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.5%) and White (12.0%). 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 Jarel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jarel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.1% (544 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 Jarel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jarel a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Jarel 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 Jarel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jarel 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 Jarel 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 Jarel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.