Jema
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "beauty" or "pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 393 living Americans carry the first name Jema. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jema today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jema births was 2011 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jema. 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 Jema with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
393
~ 1 in 872,148 Americans
Peak year
2011
26 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,183
Tracked since 1976
Census
Jema in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 496 people with the first name Jema, which placed it at #20,722 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
#20,722
National first-name rank
People counted
496
496 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
40.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jema
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jema is Hispanic at 40.1%. The next largest groups are White (36.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.3%). 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 Jema 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 Jema at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino40.1% · 199
- White36.7% · 182
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.3% · 46
- Black or African American6.7% · 33
- Two or more races6.7% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Popularity
Jema: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jema from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 186 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
Jema 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 Jema during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jemas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jema
The name Jema is believed to have its origins in Arabic culture, where it was derived from the word "jama," meaning "to collect" or "to gather." This name was likely used in the Middle East region during the medieval period, around the 10th to 13th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jema can be found in ancient Islamic texts, where it was mentioned as the name of a female companion of the Prophet Muhammad. This reference suggests that the name was in use during the 7th century in the Arabian Peninsula.
In the 12th century, a famous Sufi mystic named Jema al-Din al-Sawi was born in modern-day Iran. He was known for his spiritual teachings and poetry, and his name, which translates to "the beauty of religion," likely incorporated the name Jema.
During the Ottoman Empire era, which spanned from the 13th to the early 20th century, the name Jema was relatively common among Muslim populations in regions such as modern-day Turkey, the Balkans, and parts of the Middle East. It was used for both males and females.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Jema Khan Arghun ruled over parts of what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was a military commander and leader of the Arghun Dynasty, which played a significant role in the region's history.
Another historical figure with the name Jema was Jema Karadordevic, a Serbian noble who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was a prominent military leader and played a crucial role in the Serbian Revolution against Ottoman rule.
It is important to note that while the name Jema has its roots in Arabic and Islamic culture, it has been adopted and used in various regions and contexts throughout history, sometimes with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation.
People
Jema + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jema 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
Jema: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jema?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 393 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jema 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 872,148 US residents.
Is Jema a common name?
We classify Jema as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 400 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jema most popular?
The single biggest year for Jema was 2011, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jema is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jema in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 496 people with the name Jema, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,722 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 Jema 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 Jema?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jema leans strongly female. 492 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Jema?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jema is Hispanic at 40.1%. The next largest groups are White (36.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.3%). 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 Jema most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jema in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.1% (199 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 Jema in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jema a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jema 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 Jema still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jema 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 Jema 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 Jema?
Find out how many Americans are named Jema on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.