Khalen
Of Arabic origin, meaning "hospitable" or "one who welcomes guests".
Name Census estimates that about 200 living Americans carry the first name Khalen. It is a predominantly male name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Khalen today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalen births was 2009 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalen. 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 Khalen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
200
~ 1 in 1,713,772 Americans
Peak year
2009
18 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,285
Tracked since 1996
Census
Khalen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 231 people with the first name Khalen, which placed it at #35,041 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
#35,041
National first-name rank
People counted
231
231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalen is Black at 56.3%. The next largest groups are White (23.8%) and Hispanic (9.5%). 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 Khalen 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 Khalen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.3% · 130
- White23.8% · 55
- Hispanic or Latino9.5% · 22
- Two or more races5.6% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Khalen
Khalen leans heavily male at 97.5% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Khalen as a male name
- Ranked #13,285 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (18 births)
Khalen as a female name
- Ranked #19,078 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 2008 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Khalen on both sides of the split. Of the 226 people counted with this name, 180 were male (79.6%) and 46 were female (20.4%).
Popularity
Khalen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khalen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 80 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Khalen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalen 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 Khalen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalen
The name Khalen has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, which was the classical literary language of the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "khala," which means "threshing floor" or "a place where grain is separated from the chaff." This suggests that the name may have been associated with agricultural or farming communities in the early days of Indian civilization.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Khalen can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In the epic, Khalen is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought alongside the Pandava princes during the great battle of Kurukshetra.
Another historical reference to the name Khalen can be found in the Buddhist texts of the Pali Canon, which were composed between the 5th and 1st centuries BCE. In these texts, Khalen is mentioned as the name of a disciple of the Buddha who attained enlightenment through his teachings.
In the medieval period, the name Khalen was also associated with several prominent figures in Indian history. One such figure was Khalen Devi, a female warrior and ruler who governed the kingdom of Bundelkhand in central India during the 16th century. She was known for her bravery and military prowess, and her name has become a symbol of female empowerment in Indian culture.
Another notable individual with the name Khalen was Khalen Das, a 17th-century Indian poet and mystic who was a prominent figure in the Baul tradition of Bengal. His poetry, which celebrated the spiritual and romantic aspects of life, has been widely celebrated and continues to be studied by scholars and literary enthusiasts.
In more recent times, the name Khalen has been borne by several individuals who have made significant contributions in various fields. One such person was Khalen Mukherjee, an Indian painter and sculptor who was born in 1922 and is renowned for his modernist and avant-garde works that explored themes of Indian spirituality and mythology.
Another notable figure with the name Khalen was Khalen Anand, an Indian lawyer and human rights activist who was born in 1944 and played a pivotal role in the fight against caste-based discrimination and the promotion of social justice in India.
Overall, the name Khalen has a rich and diverse history, spanning various cultures, religions, and eras in the Indian subcontinent. Its origins in Sanskrit and its associations with agriculture, warfare, spirituality, and artistic expression make it a name with a deep and meaningful cultural significance.
People
Khalen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalen 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
Khalen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalen 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 1,713,772 US residents.
Is Khalen a common name?
We classify Khalen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 202 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalen most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalen was 2009, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalen is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khalen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 231 people with the name Khalen, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,041 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 Khalen 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 Khalen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Khalen on both sides of the split. Of the 226 people counted with this name, 180 were male (79.6%) and 46 were female (20.4%). 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 Khalen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalen is Black at 56.3%. The next largest groups are White (23.8%) and Hispanic (9.5%). 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 Khalen most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khalen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (130 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 Khalen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalen a male name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Khalen 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 Khalen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalen 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 Khalen 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 Khalen?
Find out how many Americans are named Khalen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.