Khalilah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "a close friend of God."
Name Census estimates that about 1,581 living Americans carry the first name Khalilah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Khalilah today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalilah births was 1976 (205 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalilah. 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 Khalilah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 216,796 Americans
Peak year
1976
205 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,206
Tracked since 1975
Census
Khalilah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,344 people with the first name Khalilah, which placed it at #10,061 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
#10,061
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,344 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalilah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalilah is Black at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Khalilah 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 Khalilah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.2% · 1,199
- Two or more races4.4% · 59
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 58
- White1.5% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Khalilah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khalilah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 658 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalilah 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 Khalilah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalilahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, Illinois, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Khalilah, while South Carolina, Indiana, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalilah
The name Khalilah is derived from the Arabic root word "khalil," which means "friend" or "beloved." It is a feminine form of the male name Khalil and is believed to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula during the 7th century CE, the time of the rise of Islam. The Arabic language and culture played a significant role in the spread and popularity of this name.
In Islamic tradition, Khalilah is considered a virtuous name, as it is associated with the concept of friendship and closeness to God. The term "Khalil Allah" is an honorific title given to the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) in the Quran, meaning "the friend of God." This connection to a revered prophetic figure has contributed to the name's significance in the Islamic faith.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Khalilah can be found in medieval Arabic literature and poetry. The renowned 9th-century Arab poet, Abbasid vizier, and scholar Al-Jahiz mentioned a woman named Khalilah in his writings, indicating the name's use during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Khalilah. One of the most prominent was Khalilah bint al-Harith (died 640 CE), a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the earliest female converts to Islam. She was known for her piety and devotion to the faith.
Another historical figure was Khalilah al-Qurtubiyyah (1025-1087 CE), a renowned poet and scholar from Cordoba, Spain, during the Golden Age of Islamic civilization in Andalusia. Her poetry and literary works were highly acclaimed, and she was considered a prominent figure in the intellectual circles of her time.
In the 13th century, Khalilah bint Abi Bakr al-Murabit (1215-1285 CE) was a distinguished Sufi mystic and scholar from Damascus. She is known for her contributions to the study of Sufism and her spiritual writings, which influenced the development of Islamic mysticism.
During the Ottoman Empire, Khalilah Khatun (1613-1682 CE) was an influential figure in the court of Sultan Mehmed IV. She served as the Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) and played a significant role in political affairs and patronage of the arts and architecture.
In more recent history, Khalilah Camacho-Ali (born 1950) is an American author, activist, and the former wife of boxing legend Muhammad Ali. She has written several books and has been an advocate for various social and humanitarian causes.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Khalilah throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and significance across different eras and regions influenced by Arabic and Islamic culture.
People
Khalilah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalilah 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
Khalilah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalilah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,581 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalilah 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 216,796 US residents.
Is Khalilah a common name?
We classify Khalilah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,673 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalilah most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalilah was 1976, when 205 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalilah is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khalilah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,344 people with the name Khalilah, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,061 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 Khalilah 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 Khalilah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalilah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,346 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Khalilah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalilah is Black at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Khalilah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khalilah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.2% (1,199 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 Khalilah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalilah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khalilah 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 Khalilah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalilah 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 Khalilah 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 Khalilah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.