Najat
An Arabic name meaning "deliverance" or "salvation from sorrow."
Name Census estimates that about 164 living Americans carry the first name Najat. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Najat today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Najat births was 2018 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Najat. 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 Najat with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
164
~ 1 in 2,089,965 Americans
Peak year
2018
12 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,695
Tracked since 1988
Census
Najat in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,333 people with the first name Najat, which placed it at #10,122 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
#10,122
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,333 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Najat
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Najat is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Najat 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 Najat at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 1,080
- Black or African American11.1% · 148
- Two or more races5.6% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Najat: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Najat from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 78 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Najat 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 Najat during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Najat
The name Najat is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "najat," meaning "deliverance" or "salvation." It is a common name in the Arab world, particularly in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Morocco.
Najat is a name with deep religious significance in Islam. In the Quran, the word "najat" is used to refer to the deliverance of believers from the punishment of Hell and their admission to Paradise. As such, the name Najat carries a connotation of spiritual salvation and divine protection.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Najat can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the early Islamic era. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Najat was Najat al-Kubra, a renowned Sufi mystic and scholar who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century CE.
Another notable figure with the name Najat was Najat Afruz, a Persian princess and the daughter of the Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I. She lived in the 11th century CE and was renowned for her beauty, intelligence, and patronage of the arts.
In the 12th century CE, Najat al-Maraghi was a celebrated female poet and scholar from Maragheh, Persia (present-day Iran). Her poetry and literary works were highly regarded during her lifetime and continue to be studied by scholars of Arabic literature.
During the 14th century CE, Najat al-Baghdadiyya was a prominent female scholar and jurist in Baghdad. She was known for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the study of the Hadith (sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad).
In more recent history, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is a French politician and former government minister who served as the Minister of Education from 2014 to 2017. Born in 1977, she is a prominent figure in French politics and a advocate for women's rights and gender equality.
People
Najat + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Najat as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Najat: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Najat?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 164 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Najat 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 2,089,965 US residents.
Is Najat a common name?
We classify Najat as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 166 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Najat most popular?
The single biggest year for Najat was 2018, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Najat 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 Najat in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,333 people with the name Najat, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,122 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 Najat 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 Najat?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Najat appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,322 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Najat?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Najat is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Najat most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Najat in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (1,080 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 Najat in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Najat a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Najat 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 Najat still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Najat 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 Najat 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 named Najat?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.