Kalilah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "good friend" or "beloved friend".
Name Census estimates that about 748 living Americans carry the first name Kalilah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kalilah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kalilah births was 2024 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kalilah. 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 Kalilah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
748
~ 1 in 458,228 Americans
Peak year
2024
104 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,910
Tracked since 1976
Census
Kalilah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 407 people with the first name Kalilah, which placed it at #23,894 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
#23,894
National first-name rank
People counted
407
407 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kalilah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalilah is Black at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and White (15.5%). 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 Kalilah 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 Kalilah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.6% · 210
- Hispanic or Latino15.7% · 64
- White15.5% · 63
- Two or more races13.0% · 53
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 8
Popularity
Kalilah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kalilah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 284 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kalilah 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 Kalilah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kalilahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Kalilah, while Wisconsin, Washington, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kalilah
The name Kalilah has its origins in Arabic, derived from the word "Kalila," which means "wisdom" or "wise one." This name gained prominence during the medieval period, particularly in the Middle East and parts of North Africa.
One of the earliest and most notable mentions of the name is found in the Arabic literary work "Kalila wa Dimna," a collection of fables and stories that date back to the 8th century CE. This work, which was translated from the Sanskrit Panchatantra, featured animal characters with names like Kalilah and Dimna, representing wisdom and cleverness.
During the medieval Islamic Golden Age, the name Kalilah became associated with learning, intelligence, and philosophical pursuits. It was a popular name among scholars, poets, and intellectuals of the time.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kalilah was Kalilah ibn al-Haytham, an Iraqi mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 9th century CE. He made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy, and his works were widely studied in the Islamic world.
Another notable bearer of the name was Kalilah bint Al-Badr, a 12th-century Arab poet and scholar from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). She was renowned for her mastery of Arabic literature and her poetic works, which celebrated the beauty of nature and the human experience.
In the 13th century, Kalilah al-Qurtubi was a prominent Islamic scholar and philosopher from Cordoba, Spain. He wrote extensively on various subjects, including theology, logic, and metaphysics, and his works were widely read and studied across the Islamic world.
During the Ottoman Empire, the name Kalilah gained popularity among the ruling elite. One notable figure was Kalilah Hatun, the wife of Sultan Mehmed II, who ruled in the 15th century. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the construction of mosques and madrasas (Islamic schools).
Another influential figure was Kalilah Pasha, a 16th-century Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier (chief advisor) to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. He played a significant role in the administration and governance of the Ottoman Empire during a period of expansion and cultural flourishing.
While the name Kalilah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with significant Arab or Muslim influence. However, its historical significance remains closely tied to the intellectual and cultural traditions of the medieval Islamic world.
People
Kalilah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kalilah 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
Kalilah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kalilah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 748 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kalilah 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 458,228 US residents.
Is Kalilah a common name?
We classify Kalilah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 760 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kalilah most popular?
The single biggest year for Kalilah was 2024, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kalilah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kalilah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 407 people with the name Kalilah, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,894 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 Kalilah 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 Kalilah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kalilah appears almost entirely female. Of the 405 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kalilah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalilah is Black at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and White (15.5%). 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 Kalilah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kalilah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.6% (210 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 Kalilah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kalilah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kalilah 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 Kalilah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kalilah 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 Kalilah 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 share the name Kalilah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.