Khali
An Arabic masculine name meaning "pure" or "sincere".
Name Census estimates that about 2,011 living Americans carry the first name Khali. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Khali today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khali births was 2017 (139 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khali. 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 Khali with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Khali is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,440 Americans
Peak year
2017
139 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,717
Tracked since 1978
Census
Khali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,305 people with the first name Khali, which placed it at #10,283 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
#10,283
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,305 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khali is Black at 61.5%. The next largest groups are White (16.8%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Khali 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 Khali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.5% · 803
- White16.8% · 219
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 149
- Two or more races8.7% · 114
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Khali
Khali is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,032 total registrations, 685 (33.7%) were male and 1,347 (66.3%) were female.
Khali as a male name
- Ranked #8,019 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (37 births)
Khali as a female name
- Ranked #3,717 in 2024
- 41 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (115 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Khali on both sides of the split. Of the 1,310 people counted with this name, 479 were male (36.6%) and 831 were female (63.4%).
Popularity
Khali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khali from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 972 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Khali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khali 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 Khali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Khali, while Missouri, Illinois, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Khali
The name Khali has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "khali," which means "empty" or "vacant." This name was likely given to children born at a time when resources were scarce or during periods of famine or hardship.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Khali can be found in the medieval Arabic text "Kitab al-Aghani" (Book of Songs), written in the 9th century. This anthology of poetry and biographical notes mentions a poet named Khali ibn Ahmad al-Nahrawani, who lived in the 8th century.
In the 11th century, a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Persia, Khali ibn Ahmad al-Baydawi, authored a widely-studied commentary on the Qur'an titled "Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil" (The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation).
During the 13th century, a famous Sufi mystic and poet named Khali ibn Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani was born in Baghdad. He was known for his spiritual teachings and his collection of poetry, which explored themes of love and devotion to God.
In the 15th century, a prominent Arabic calligrapher named Khali ibn Ahmad al-Naqash gained recognition for his exceptional skills in the art of calligraphy. His works were highly prized and can be found in various museums and collections around the world.
Another notable figure with the name Khali was Khali ibn Ishaq al-Jundi, a 17th-century Ottoman scholar and historian who authored several works on the history of the Ottoman Empire and the life of Sultan Murad IV.
While the name Khali has its roots in the Arabic language and culture, it has been adopted and used in various regions and communities over the centuries, carrying with it a rich historical and cultural significance.
People
Khali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khali 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
Khali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,011 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khali 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 170,440 US residents.
Is Khali a common name?
We classify Khali as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,032 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khali most popular?
The single biggest year for Khali was 2017, when 139 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khali is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,305 people with the name Khali, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,283 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 Khali 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 Khali?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Khali on both sides of the split. Of the 1,310 people counted with this name, 479 were male (36.6%) and 831 were female (63.4%). 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 Khali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khali is Black at 61.5%. The next largest groups are White (16.8%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Khali most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.5% (803 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 Khali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khali a female name?
Yes, 66.3% of people registered as Khali 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 Khali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khali 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 Khali 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 common is the name Khali?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Khali at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.