Jerelle
A feminine variation of Jerrell, of English origin meaning "spear thrower".
Name Census estimates that about 204 living Americans carry the first name Jerelle. It is a predominantly male name (94.3% of registrations). The average person named Jerelle today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerelle births was 1991 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerelle. 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.
People living today
204
~ 1 in 1,680,168 Americans
Peak year
1991
21 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,759
Tracked since 1981
Census
Jerelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 226 people with the first name Jerelle, which placed it at #35,529 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
#35,529
National first-name rank
People counted
226
226 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerelle is Black at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and White (7.5%). 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 Jerelle 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 Jerelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.2% · 161
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 19
- White7.5% · 17
- Two or more races6.6% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Jerelle
Jerelle leans heavily male at 94.3% of total registrations, but 12 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jerelle as a male name
- Ranked #12,977 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1988 (17 births)
Jerelle as a female name
- Ranked #10,759 in 1991
- 7 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1991 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jerelle on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 184 were male (80.0%) and 46 were female (20.0%).
Popularity
Jerelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerelle from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 96 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
Jerelle 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 Jerelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jerelles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jerelle
The name Jerelle has its origins in the ancient Aramaic language, which was widely spoken in the Middle East during the 6th century BCE. It is derived from the Aramaic root word "yrll," which means "to praise" or "to exalt." This suggests that the name Jerelle may have been initially given to individuals who were highly respected or revered within their communities.
While the exact origin of the name is somewhat obscure, there are records of its usage in various ancient texts and historical documents. One of the earliest known references to the name Jerelle can be found in the Aramaic inscriptions of the ancient city of Palmyra, located in present-day Syria. These inscriptions date back to the 3rd century CE and mention a prominent figure named Jerelle, who was likely a influential member of the local community.
In the following centuries, the name Jerelle continued to be used sporadically in various parts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. One notable individual bearing this name was Jerelle ibn al-Qahtani, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in the 9th century CE in the city of Baghdad. His works, which celebrated the beauty of the Arabic language and the wisdom of Islamic teachings, were widely studied and admired during his lifetime.
Moving forward in time, the name Jerelle also appears in certain historical records from the Byzantine Empire. In the 11th century CE, a woman named Jerelle Doukas was a member of the imperial family and played a significant role in the political intrigues of the Byzantine court. Her influence and ambition were well-documented by contemporary chroniclers, and she is often portrayed as a formidable figure in the struggles for power that characterized that era.
Another individual of note was Jerelle al-Andalusi, a celebrated mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 12th century CE in the city of Seville, which was then part of the Moorish territories in Spain. His contributions to the fields of trigonometry and celestial mechanics were highly influential, and his works were widely studied and referenced by scholars across Europe and the Islamic world.
Finally, it is worth mentioning Jerelle ibn Battuta, a renowned Moroccan explorer and traveler who lived in the 14th century CE. His extensive journeys across Africa, Asia, and parts of Europe were meticulously documented in his famous travel memoir, the "Rihla," which remains an invaluable source of information about the cultures, customs, and geographic landscapes of the medieval world.
People
Jerelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerelle 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
Jerelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerelle 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 1,680,168 US residents.
Is Jerelle a common name?
We classify Jerelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 210 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerelle was 1991, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerelle 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 Jerelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 226 people with the name Jerelle, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,529 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 Jerelle 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 Jerelle?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jerelle on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 184 were male (80.0%) and 46 were female (20.0%). 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 Jerelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerelle is Black at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%) and White (7.5%). 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 Jerelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jerelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.2% (161 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 Jerelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerelle a male name?
Yes, 94.3% of people registered as Jerelle 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 Jerelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerelle 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 Jerelle 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 called Jerelle?
Find out how many people share the name Jerelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.