Jaafar
A name of Arabic origin meaning "stream" or "small river".
Name Census estimates that about 60 living Americans carry the first name Jaafar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jaafar today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jaafar births was 1993 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jaafar. 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 Jaafar with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Jaafar. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
60
~ 1 in 5,712,572 Americans
Peak year
1993
7 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,376
Tracked since 1993
Census
Jaafar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 415 people with the first name Jaafar, which placed it at #23,539 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
#23,539
National first-name rank
People counted
415
415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jaafar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaafar is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.3%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Jaafar 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 Jaafar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.1% · 349
- Black or African American6.3% · 26
- Two or more races5.5% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 7
Popularity
Jaafar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jaafar from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 19 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Jaafar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jaafar 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 Jaafar 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 Jaafar
The name Jaafar has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic root word "j-f-r," which means "small stream" or "rivulet." The name is believed to be connected to the concept of purity, freshness, and rejuvenation, reflecting the cleansing properties of water.
Jaafar is a name mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. It is believed to be the name of one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad, Jaafar ibn Abi Talib, who was also the brother of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam. Jaafar ibn Abi Talib was a revered figure in Islamic history, known for his bravery, devotion, and sacrifice during the early days of Islam.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jaafar can be found in the historical accounts of the Islamic conquest of the Persian Empire in the 7th century CE. Jaafar ibn Abi Talib played a significant role in these conquests and is celebrated as a prominent figure in Islamic literature and poetry.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jaafar. One of the most famous was Jaafar al-Sadiq (702-765 CE), the sixth Imam of Shia Islam and a renowned scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and theology. His teachings and interpretations of the Quran and Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) have had a lasting impact on Islamic thought and philosophy.
Another prominent figure was Jaafar al-Barmaki (767-808 CE), a member of the influential Barmakid family during the Abbasid Caliphate. He served as a vizier (chief minister) under the caliph Harun al-Rashid and played a crucial role in the cultural and intellectual renaissance of the Islamic Golden Age.
In the realm of literature, Jaafar ibn Muhammad al-Muqaddasi (945-1000 CE) was a renowned Arab geographer and travel writer. His work, "The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions," is considered a seminal text in the field of geography and provided invaluable insights into the geography, culture, and society of the Islamic world during the 10th century.
Jaafar Khan Zand (1714-1789) was a prominent Persian ruler who founded the Zand dynasty in Iran. He is remembered for his efforts to revive Persian culture and literature, as well as for his military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and the Durrani Empire.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Jaafar throughout history, reflecting its deep-rooted cultural and religious significance in the Arabic and Islamic traditions.
People
Jaafar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jaafar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jaafar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jaafar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 60 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jaafar 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 5,712,572 US residents.
Is Jaafar a common name?
We classify Jaafar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 61 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jaafar most popular?
The single biggest year for Jaafar was 1993, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jaafar is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jaafar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 415 people with the name Jaafar, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,539 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 Jaafar 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 Jaafar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaafar appears almost entirely male. Of the 415 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Jaafar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaafar is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.3%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Jaafar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jaafar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.1% (349 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 Jaafar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jaafar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jaafar 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 Jaafar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jaafar 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 Jaafar 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 Jaafar as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jaafar, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.