Khalel
Of Arabic origin, meaning "friend" or "companion".
Name Census estimates that about 278 living Americans carry the first name Khalel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Khalel today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalel births was 2018 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalel. 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 Khalel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
278
~ 1 in 1,232,929 Americans
Peak year
2018
18 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,018
Tracked since 1997
Census
Khalel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 218 people with the first name Khalel, which placed it at #36,419 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
#36,419
National first-name rank
People counted
218
218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalel is Black at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and White (12.4%). 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 Khalel 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 Khalel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.8% · 115
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 34
- White12.4% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 21
- Two or more races9.6% · 21
Popularity
Khalel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khalel from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 123 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Khalel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalel 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 Khalel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalel
The name Khalel is derived from the Arabic language and has its roots in the Middle East, specifically the Arabian Peninsula. It is believed to have originated during the early days of Islam, around the 7th century CE.
Khalel is a variation of the Arabic name Khalil, which means "friend" or "beloved." The name is closely associated with the Islamic faith and has been used by Muslims throughout history. It is also believed to be derived from the Hebrew name "Caleb," which means "faithful" or "whole-hearted."
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Khalel can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) is referred to as "Khalil Allah," which translates to "Friend of God." This association with the prophet Ibrahim has made the name Khalel and its variations highly revered in the Islamic tradition.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Khalel. One of the most famous was Khalel ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718-786 CE), an Arab philologist and lexicographer who is regarded as the father of Arabic lexicography. His seminal work, "Kitab al-Ayn," is considered one of the earliest dictionaries of the Arabic language.
Another prominent figure was Khalel ibn Shahin al-Zahiri (776-842 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Baghdad. He was a prominent member of the Zahiri school of Islamic jurisprudence and authored several influential works on Islamic law and theology.
In the realm of poetry, Khalel ibn Ahmad al-Bazzaz (1021-1092 CE) was a celebrated Arab poet from Baghdad. His poetry, which often celebrated love and nature, was widely admired and has been preserved in various anthologies.
During the Ottoman Empire, Khalel Pasha (1516-1587 CE) was a prominent military leader and statesman. He served as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1580 to 1587 and played a significant role in the empire's expansion and consolidation of power.
More recently, Khalel Sakakini (1878-1953 CE) was a Palestinian scholar, poet, and educator who played a crucial role in the Palestinian national movement and the preservation of Arabic literature and culture.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Khalel throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields such as literature, scholarship, law, and leadership.
People
Khalel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalel 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
Khalel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalel 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 1,232,929 US residents.
Is Khalel a common name?
We classify Khalel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalel most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalel was 2018, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalel 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 Khalel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 218 people with the name Khalel, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,419 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 Khalel 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 Khalel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalel leans strongly male. 221 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Khalel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalel is Black at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and White (12.4%). 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 Khalel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khalel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (115 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 Khalel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khalel 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 Khalel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalel 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 Khalel 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 are called Khalel?
You can see how many people have the name Khalel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.