Khalil
An Arabic name meaning "friend" or "close companion".
Name Census estimates that about 24,026 living Americans carry the first name Khalil. It sits at #390 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Khalil today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalil births was 2020 (1,240 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalil. 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 Khalil with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Khalil is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 182 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Khalil is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,266 Americans
Peak year
2020
1,240 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#390
Tracked since 1957
Census
Khalil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,176 people with the first name Khalil, which placed it at #1,757 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
#1,757
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,176 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
66.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalil is Black at 66.8%. The next largest groups are White (15.6%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Khalil 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 Khalil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American66.8% · 11,481
- White15.6% · 2,672
- Two or more races8.1% · 1,387
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 1,023
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 536
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 77
Gender
Gender distribution for Khalil
Out of the 24,372 babies given the name Khalil since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Khalil as a male name
- Ranked #390 in 2024
- 830 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (1,231 births)
Khalil as a female name
- Ranked #14,311 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2019 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalil leans strongly male. 16,997 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 179 female bearers (1.0%).
Popularity
Khalil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khalil from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,992 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Khalil remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalil 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 Khalil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Khalil, while South Dakota, Rhode Island, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 512 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalil
The name Khalil has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the root word "khalal," which means "friend" or "beloved." The name can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the early days of Islam.
Khalil is a name that holds great significance in Islamic tradition. In the Quran, one of the most revered figures is the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), who is referred to as "Khalil Allah," meaning "the friend of God." This honorific title highlights the close relationship between Ibrahim and God, and it is believed to be the origin of the name Khalil.
The earliest recorded use of the name Khalil can be found in various Islamic texts and historical records from the Middle Ages. One notable figure who bore this name was Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, a renowned Arab philologist and lexicographer who lived in the 8th century CE. He is remembered for his contributions to the study of the Arabic language and his compilation of the first Arabic dictionary.
Throughout history, several other notable individuals have carried the name Khalil. These include Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and artist, who lived from 1883 to 1931. His best-known work, "The Prophet," is a collection of poetic essays that explore various themes of life and spirituality.
Another famous bearer of the name was Khalil al-Wazir, also known as Abu Jihad, a Palestinian political leader and co-founder of the Fatah movement. He played a significant role in the Palestinian liberation struggle and served as a close aide to Yasser Arafat until his assassination in 1988.
In the realm of sports, Khalil Mack, an American football player born in 1991, has made a name for himself as a defensive end and outside linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He has been selected to multiple Pro Bowls and was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2016.
Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese-American writer and poet (1883-1931), is perhaps one of the most renowned individuals to bear this name. His works, such as "The Prophet" and "The Madman," have had a profound impact on literature and philosophical thought, resonating with readers across cultures and generations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Khalil
People
Khalil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalil 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
Khalil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,026 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalil 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 14,266 US residents.
Is Khalil a common name?
We classify Khalil as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,372 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalil most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalil was 2020, when 1,240 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalil is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khalil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,176 people with the name Khalil, or 5.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,757 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 Khalil 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 Khalil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalil leans strongly male. 16,997 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 179 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Khalil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalil is Black at 66.8%. The next largest groups are White (15.6%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Khalil most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khalil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.8% (11,481 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 Khalil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalil a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Khalil 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 Khalil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalil 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 Khalil 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 have the name Khalil?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Khalil on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.