Jahari
An Arabic name meaning "noble" or "precious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,973 living Americans carry the first name Jahari. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Jahari today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jahari births was 2023 (112 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jahari. 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 Jahari with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jahari is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 173,722 Americans
Peak year
2023
112 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,029
Tracked since 1977
Census
Jahari in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,225 people with the first name Jahari, which placed it at #10,729 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
#10,729
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jahari
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jahari is Black at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.7%) and Hispanic (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 Jahari 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 Jahari at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.3% · 1,070
- Two or more races5.7% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 69
- White1.2% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Jahari
Jahari leans heavily male at 89.0% of total registrations, but 219 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jahari as a male name
- Ranked #2,029 in 2024
- 75 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (98 births)
Jahari as a female name
- Ranked #16,208 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jahari leans strongly male. 1,039 people counted with this name were male (84.6%), compared with 189 female bearers (15.4%).
Popularity
Jahari: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jahari from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 748 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jahari remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jahari 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 Jahari during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaharis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Illinois, Florida, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Jahari, while Indiana, Michigan, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jahari
The name Jahari is believed to have its origins in the Swahili language, which is spoken in parts of East Africa, particularly in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The name is derived from the Arabic word "jahara," which means "to be famous" or "to make public."
Jahari is a relatively modern name that gained popularity in the 20th century, particularly among African-American communities in the United States. It is often associated with the Black Power movement and the push for cultural identity and pride.
While there are no records of the name appearing in ancient texts or historical records, its Arabic roots suggest that it may have been used in Muslim communities in East Africa for centuries.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jahari is Jahari Abaza Massoud, a Kenyan politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Kenya in the 1970s. Another notable figure with the name is Jahari Rasool, an American author and educator who has written several books on African-American history and culture.
Other notable individuals with the name Jahari include:
1. Jahari Kamanda, a South African musician and composer known for his fusion of traditional African music with contemporary genres.
2. Jahari White, an American basketball player who played in the NBA from 2003 to 2008.
3. Jahari Walker, an American actress best known for her role in the television series "Raising Dion."
4. Jahari King, an American fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded the clothing line "King's Ransom."
5. Jahari Shelton, an American activist and community organizer who has worked on various social justice issues.
While the name Jahari has gained popularity in recent decades, its roots can be traced back to the rich cultural heritage of East Africa and the Arabic language.
People
Jahari + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jahari 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
Jahari: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jahari?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,973 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jahari 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 173,722 US residents.
Is Jahari a common name?
We classify Jahari as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,993 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jahari most popular?
The single biggest year for Jahari was 2023, when 112 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jahari is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jahari in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,225 people with the name Jahari, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,729 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 Jahari 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 Jahari?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jahari leans strongly male. 1,039 people counted with this name were male (84.6%), compared with 189 female bearers (15.4%). 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 Jahari?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jahari is Black at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.7%) and Hispanic (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 Jahari most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jahari in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (1,070 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 Jahari in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jahari a male name?
Yes, 89.0% of people registered as Jahari 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 Jahari still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jahari 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 Jahari 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 Jahari as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jahari, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.