Khalaf
An Arabic masculine name meaning "successor" or "one who comes after".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Khalaf. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Khalaf today is around 3 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalaf births was 2023 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalaf. 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 Khalaf with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Khalaf. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2023
5 babies that year
Average age
3
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,265
Tracked since 2023
Census
Khalaf in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 114 people with the first name Khalaf, which placed it at #51,355 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
#51,355
National first-name rank
People counted
114
114 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalaf
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalaf is White at 71.9%. The next largest groups are Black (16.7%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Khalaf 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 Khalaf at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.9% · 82
- Black or African American16.7% · 19
- Two or more races6.1% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 2
Popularity
Khalaf: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalaf 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 Khalaf during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalaf
The name Khalaf has its origins in the Arabic language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the root word "kh-l-f," which means "to succeed" or "to come after." This name was commonly given to children with the intention of wishing them a successful future and the ability to carry on the family's legacy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Khalaf can be found in the works of renowned Arab historians and scholars from the 9th and 10th centuries. It appears in various texts, including biographical dictionaries and genealogical records, indicating its widespread use during that period.
The name Khalaf has a strong connection to Islamic history and culture. In the 8th century, Khalaf ibn Hisham was a prominent jurist and scholar from Basra, Iraq, known for his contributions to the field of Islamic jurisprudence. Another notable figure was Khalaf al-Ahmar, a 10th-century poet and writer from Baghdad, who gained recognition for his literary works.
In the 12th century, Khalaf ibn Abbas al-Zahrawi, also known as Albucasis, was a renowned Arab physician and surgeon. He authored one of the earliest and most comprehensive medical encyclopedias, "Al-Tasrif," which had a significant impact on the development of medical knowledge in the Islamic world and Europe.
During the Ottoman Empire, the name Khalaf was prevalent among various social classes. One notable figure was Khalaf Efendi, a 16th-century Ottoman statesman and diplomat who served as the governor of several provinces and played a crucial role in diplomatic relations with neighboring regions.
In more recent times, Khalaf Al Habtoor, born in 1949, is a prominent Emirati businessman and philanthropist known for his contributions to the hospitality and real estate industries in the United Arab Emirates.
Throughout history, the name Khalaf has been associated with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including scholars, poets, physicians, statesmen, and entrepreneurs, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance in the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Khalaf + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalaf 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
Khalaf: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalaf?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalaf 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Khalaf a common name?
We classify Khalaf as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalaf most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalaf was 2023, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalaf is about 3 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khalaf in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 114 people with the name Khalaf, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,355 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 Khalaf 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 Khalaf?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalaf appears almost entirely male. Of the 109 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Khalaf?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalaf is White at 71.9%. The next largest groups are Black (16.7%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Khalaf most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Khalaf in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.9% (82 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 Khalaf in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalaf a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khalaf 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 Khalaf still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalaf 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 Khalaf 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 Khalaf?
Find out how many people have the name Khalaf on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.