Jakiyah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "strong-willed and determined".
Name Census estimates that about 1,449 living Americans carry the first name Jakiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jakiyah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jakiyah births was 2008 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jakiyah. 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.
Key insights
- • Jakiyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 236,545 Americans
Peak year
2008
93 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,402
Tracked since 1992
Census
Jakiyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 967 people with the first name Jakiyah, which placed it at #12,750 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
#12,750
National first-name rank
People counted
967
967 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jakiyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jakiyah is Black at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and White (1.3%). 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 Jakiyah 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 Jakiyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.6% · 895
- Two or more races4.8% · 46
- White1.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
Popularity
Jakiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jakiyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 660 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jakiyah 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 Jakiyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jakiyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, Florida recorded the most babies named Jakiyah, while Indiana, Louisiana, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jakiyah
The name Jakiyah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "hakim," meaning "wise" or "judicious." It has been in use for centuries across the Arabic-speaking world and the broader region influenced by Islamic culture.
Jakiyah is a feminine name that gained popularity during the medieval period, particularly among Muslim communities in the Middle East and North Africa. It was often bestowed upon girls with the hope that they would grow up to be wise and discerning individuals.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Jakiyah can be found in Islamic literature, specifically in the works of renowned scholars and theologians from the 8th to 12th centuries. These texts often mentioned individuals bearing this name, though they were not necessarily prominent historical figures.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Jakiyah. One such figure was Jakiyah al-Baghdadi, a renowned female scholar and poet who lived in Baghdad during the 11th century. She was renowned for her expertise in Arabic literature and her contributions to the intellectual circles of her time.
Another prominent bearer of this name was Jakiyah bint Ibrahim al-Ansari, a 12th-century Sunni Islamic scholar and jurist from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). She was highly respected for her knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and her teachings on the Maliki school of Islamic law.
In the 13th century, Jakiyah al-Marrakushi was a distinguished female traveler and writer from Morocco. She documented her extensive travels across the Islamic world, providing valuable insights into the cultural and social landscapes of the regions she visited.
During the 14th century, Jakiyah al-Qurashi was a prominent female scholar and theologian from Mecca. She gained recognition for her expertise in Quranic exegesis and her contributions to the study of Islamic sacred texts.
Another notable bearer of the name was Jakiyah bint Muhammad al-Azhari, a 15th-century Egyptian scholar and poet. She was highly regarded for her mastery of Arabic language and literature, as well as her poetic works that explored themes of spirituality and wisdom.
These examples illustrate the longstanding presence of the name Jakiyah throughout various historical periods and its association with individuals renowned for their wisdom, scholarship, and contributions to their respective fields.
People
Jakiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jakiyah 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
Jakiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jakiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,449 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jakiyah 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 236,545 US residents.
Is Jakiyah a common name?
We classify Jakiyah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,465 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jakiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jakiyah was 2008, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jakiyah 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 Jakiyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 967 people with the name Jakiyah, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,750 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 Jakiyah 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 Jakiyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jakiyah leans strongly female. 950 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 16 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Jakiyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jakiyah is Black at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and White (1.3%). 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 Jakiyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jakiyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.6% (895 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 Jakiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jakiyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jakiyah 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 Jakiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jakiyah 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 Jakiyah 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 share the name Jakiyah?
You can see how many people share the name Jakiyah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.