Kadija
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "the one who is enough".
Name Census estimates that about 587 living Americans carry the first name Kadija. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kadija today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kadija births was 1994 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kadija. 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 Kadija with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
587
~ 1 in 583,909 Americans
Peak year
1994
60 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,327
Tracked since 1986
Census
Kadija in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 755 people with the first name Kadija, which placed it at #15,282 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
#15,282
National first-name rank
People counted
755
755 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kadija
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kadija is Black at 83.6%. The next largest groups are White (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Kadija 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 Kadija at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.6% · 631
- White6.5% · 49
- Two or more races4.1% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 5
Popularity
Kadija: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kadija 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 204 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
Kadija 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 Kadija during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kadijas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kadija
The given name Kadija is derived from the Arabic name Khadijah, which has its origins in the pre-Islamic era of the Arabian Peninsula. It is believed to be derived from the Semitic root word "kh-d-j," which means "to be born premature" or "to arise before the due time."
The name gained significant prominence in Islamic history as it was the name of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Khadijah was a successful businesswoman in Mecca and is revered in Islamic tradition for being one of the first converts to Islam and a staunch supporter of the Prophet's mission.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Khadijah can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, where she is mentioned by name in several verses. Additionally, she is prominently featured in the hadith literature, which documents the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Kadija was Khadija al-Kubra, a 10th-century Fatimid princess and daughter of the Fatimid caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah. She played a significant role in the establishment of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa and Egypt.
Another notable figure with the name Kadija was Khadija Terakhsi, a 12th-century female poet and scholar from Khorasan, modern-day Iran. She is known for her contributions to Persian literature and her expertise in various fields, including theology and jurisprudence.
In the 19th century, Khadija Bint Khuwaylid, an influential educator and women's rights activist from Syria, bore the name. She founded several schools for girls and worked tirelessly to promote education and empowerment for women in the region.
Khadija Gayibova, born in 1897 in Azerbaijan, was a prominent Soviet writer and journalist. She played a significant role in the development of Azerbaijani literature and was recognized for her contributions to Soviet journalism and literature.
During the 20th century, Khadija Arib, born in 1960 in Morocco, became a prominent politician and diplomat. She served as the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands from 2016 to 2021, making history as the first person of Moroccan descent to hold this position.
People
Kadija + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kadija as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kadija: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kadija?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 587 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kadija 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 583,909 US residents.
Is Kadija a common name?
We classify Kadija as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 598 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kadija most popular?
The single biggest year for Kadija was 1994, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kadija is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kadija in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 755 people with the name Kadija, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,282 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 Kadija 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 Kadija?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kadija appears almost entirely female. Of the 751 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kadija?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kadija is Black at 83.6%. The next largest groups are White (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Kadija most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kadija in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.6% (631 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 Kadija in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kadija a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kadija 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 Kadija still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kadija 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 Kadija 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 have the name Kadija?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.