Gamal
A masculine Arabic name meaning "camel driver" or "bearer of good fortune".
Name Census estimates that about 462 living Americans carry the first name Gamal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gamal today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gamal births was 1976 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gamal. 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 Gamal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
462
~ 1 in 741,893 Americans
Peak year
1976
18 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,074
Tracked since 1957
Census
Gamal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,275 people with the first name Gamal, which placed it at #10,450 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
#10,450
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,275 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gamal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gamal is White at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Gamal 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 Gamal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.1% · 805
- Black or African American23.0% · 293
- Two or more races7.4% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 11
Popularity
Gamal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gamal from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 114 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Gamal remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gamal 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 Gamal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gamals live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gamal
The name Gamal has its origins in the Arabic language, derived from the word "jamal," which means "beauty" or "camel." It is a masculine given name that has been in use for centuries within the Arab and Islamic cultures.
In the 7th century, during the early days of Islam, the name gained prominence as it was borne by one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad, known as Gamal ibn Thabit. He was a renowned poet and served as a scribe for the Prophet, contributing to the compilation of the Quran.
The name Gamal has also been associated with various historical figures throughout the ages. One notable bearer was Gamal al-Din al-Afghani, an influential Islamic reformist and political activist who lived in the 19th century (1838-1897). He played a significant role in promoting pan-Islamic unity and resistance against Western imperialism.
Another prominent figure was Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second President of Egypt, who ruled from 1956 to 1970. He was a charismatic leader and a key figure in the Arab nationalist movement, known for his role in the 1952 Egyptian Revolution and the nationalization of the Suez Canal.
In the literary world, Gamal al-Ghitani (1945-2015) was an acclaimed Egyptian novelist and writer, renowned for his innovative storytelling techniques and exploration of Egyptian identity and history.
Moving to the realm of sports, Gamal Abdel Rahim was an Egyptian weightlifter who competed in the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal in the featherweight class in 1948.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Gamal throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and cultural significance within the Arab and Islamic worlds.
People
Gamal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gamal as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gamal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gamal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 462 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gamal 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 741,893 US residents.
Is Gamal a common name?
We classify Gamal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 491 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gamal most popular?
The single biggest year for Gamal was 1976, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gamal is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gamal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,275 people with the name Gamal, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,450 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 Gamal 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 Gamal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gamal leans strongly male. 1,258 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 20 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Gamal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gamal is White at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Gamal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gamal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.1% (805 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 Gamal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gamal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gamal 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 Gamal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gamal 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 Gamal 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 Gamal as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.