Kalifa
Feminine form of the Arabic masculine name Khalifa meaning "successor; leader".
Name Census estimates that about 84 living Americans carry the first name Kalifa. It is a predominantly female name (94.2% of registrations). The average person named Kalifa today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kalifa births was 1997 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kalifa. 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 Kalifa with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kalifa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
84
~ 1 in 4,080,409 Americans
Peak year
1997
15 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2018 SSA rank
#13,138
Tracked since 1992
Census
Kalifa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Kalifa, which placed it at #36,840 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
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kalifa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalifa is Black at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and White (3.7%). 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 Kalifa 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 Kalifa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.4% · 187
- Two or more races4.7% · 10
- White3.7% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Kalifa
Kalifa leans heavily female at 94.2% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kalifa as a male name
- Ranked #13,138 in 2018
- 5 male births in 2018
- Peak: 2018 (5 births)
Kalifa as a female name
- Ranked #13,998 in 2000
- 6 female births in 2000
- Peak: 1997 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kalifa on both sides of the split. Of the 210 people counted with this name, 75 were male (35.7%) and 135 were female (64.3%).
Popularity
Kalifa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kalifa from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 75 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
Kalifa 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 Kalifa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kalifas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kalifa
The name Kalifa has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "khalifah," which means "successor" or "deputy." The name is closely associated with the concept of leadership and authority in Islamic history.
In the early days of Islam, the title "Khalifah" was given to the successors of the Prophet Muhammad, who were considered the leaders of the Muslim community. The first four caliphs after the Prophet's death were known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs or the Rashidun Caliphs.
One of the most notable historical references to the name Kalifa can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. The term "Khalifah" is used in several verses, referring to human beings as the vicegerents or representatives of God on Earth.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kalifa can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Rashidun Caliphs. Some famous individuals throughout history who bore the name Kalifa include:
1. Kalifa ibn Khayyat (777-854 CE), an Arab historian and scholar from Basra, known for his work "Tarikh Khalifa ibn Khayyat."
2. Kalifa al-Nahhawi (815-886 CE), a renowned Arabic grammarian and philologist from Baghdad.
3. Kalifa ibn Hayyat (835-911 CE), an Arab astronomer and mathematician from Basra, known for his work on the solar and lunar calendars.
4. Kalifa ibn Mardanish (1027-1076 CE), a ruler of the Taifa of Valencia in present-day Spain during the period of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula.
5. Kalifa ibn Khayyat al-Usfuri (12th century CE), an Arab philosopher and logician from Isfahan, known for his commentary on Aristotle's works.
These individuals came from various regions of the Islamic world, including the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula. Their contributions spanned fields such as history, grammar, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and governance, reflecting the diversity and richness of the Islamic intellectual tradition.
People
Kalifa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kalifa 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
Kalifa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kalifa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 84 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kalifa 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 4,080,409 US residents.
Is Kalifa a common name?
We classify Kalifa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 86 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kalifa most popular?
The single biggest year for Kalifa was 1997, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kalifa is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kalifa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Kalifa, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 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 Kalifa 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 Kalifa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kalifa on both sides of the split. Of the 210 people counted with this name, 75 were male (35.7%) and 135 were female (64.3%). 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 Kalifa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalifa is Black at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and White (3.7%). 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 Kalifa most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kalifa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (187 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 Kalifa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kalifa a female name?
Yes, 94.2% of people registered as Kalifa 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 Kalifa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kalifa 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 Kalifa 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 Kalifa?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.