Kameelah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "perfection" or "completeness".
Name Census estimates that about 442 living Americans carry the first name Kameelah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kameelah today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kameelah births was 1977 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kameelah. 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 Kameelah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
442
~ 1 in 775,462 Americans
Peak year
1977
43 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,366
Tracked since 1976
Census
Kameelah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 354 people with the first name Kameelah, which placed it at #26,327 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
#26,327
National first-name rank
People counted
354
354 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kameelah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kameelah is Black at 81.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Kameelah 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 Kameelah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.9% · 290
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 30
- Two or more races7.1% · 25
- White1.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 3
Popularity
Kameelah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kameelah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 115 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Kameelah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kameelah 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 Kameelah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kameelahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Kameelah, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kameelah
The name Kameelah is derived from the Arabic language and has its origins in the Middle East and North Africa region. It is a feminine name meaning "perfection" or "complete" and is rooted in the Arabic word "kamaal," which signifies completeness or perfection.
The name Kameelah is believed to have been in use since ancient times, though its precise origins are uncertain. It is possible that the name was mentioned in early Arabic literary works or religious texts, though specific references are difficult to pinpoint with certainty.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kameelah can be found in the 11th century, when it was borne by Kameelah bint al-Muqtadir, a princess and daughter of the Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtadir. She lived from 995 to 1024 CE and was known for her intelligence and literary talents.
Another notable figure was Kameelah al-Fihri, a Muslim woman from the 9th century who founded the oldest continuously operating university in the world, the University of Al-Karaouine in Fez, Morocco. Her contributions to education and her dedication to the pursuit of knowledge have made her a celebrated figure in Islamic history.
In the 13th century, Kameelah bint Abi al-Qasim al-Baghdadi was a renowned scholar and poet from Baghdad. She was celebrated for her mastery of Arabic literature and her poetry, which explored themes of love and spirituality.
During the Ottoman Empire, Kameelah Sultan was a prominent figure in the 16th century. She was the daughter of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and played an influential role in the court and politics of the time.
In more recent history, Kameelah Janan Rasheed is an American artist and educator who was born in 1985. Her multidisciplinary work explores themes of language, identity, and social justice, and she has been widely recognized for her contributions to contemporary art.
While these are just a few examples, the name Kameelah has been borne by many remarkable individuals throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the richness of the cultural heritage associated with this beautiful name.
People
Kameelah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kameelah 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
Kameelah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kameelah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 442 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kameelah 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 775,462 US residents.
Is Kameelah a common name?
We classify Kameelah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 462 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kameelah most popular?
The single biggest year for Kameelah was 1977, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kameelah 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 Kameelah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 354 people with the name Kameelah, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,327 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 Kameelah 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 Kameelah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kameelah appears almost entirely female. Of the 353 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 Kameelah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kameelah is Black at 81.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Kameelah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kameelah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.9% (290 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 Kameelah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kameelah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kameelah 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 Kameelah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kameelah 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 Kameelah 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 Americans are named Kameelah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.