Jalee
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly related to the Hindi word for "net".
Name Census estimates that about 465 living Americans carry the first name Jalee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jalee today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jalee births was 2005 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jalee. 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.
People living today
465
~ 1 in 737,106 Americans
Peak year
2005
32 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,650
Tracked since 1979
Census
Jalee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 497 people with the first name Jalee, which placed it at #20,692 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
#20,692
National first-name rank
People counted
497
497 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jalee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalee is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Black (20.5%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Jalee 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 Jalee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.8% · 302
- Black or African American20.5% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 40
- Two or more races6.6% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 6
Popularity
Jalee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jalee from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 242 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
Jalee 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 Jalee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jalees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Indiana, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Jalee, while Texas, Florida, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jalee
The name Jalee has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India, dating back to the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the word "jala," meaning "water," and is believed to have been initially used as a descriptive name or nickname for someone who lived near a body of water or was associated with water-related activities.
In its earliest form, the name was written as "Jalika" or "Jalikā" in Sanskrit texts. Over time, as the name spread across different regions of the Indian subcontinent, it underwent various phonetic changes and evolved into the modern spelling of "Jalee."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jalee can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a warrior from the Pandava clan. However, it is unclear whether this was a proper name or a descriptive epithet.
Throughout the centuries, the name Jalee has been borne by several notable individuals, both in India and abroad. One of the earliest recorded examples is Jalee ibn Baitar (1197-1248), an Arab Muslim botanist and pharmacist from Malaga, Spain, who wrote an influential text on the medicinal properties of plants.
Another prominent figure with the name was Jalee Ali Khan (1670-1742), a Mughal military commander and nobleman who served under the emperors Aurangzeb and Bahadur Shah I. He played a crucial role in suppressing rebellions and consolidating Mughal power in the Deccan region of India.
In more recent times, Jalee Uddin Ahmed (1923-1976) was a Bangladeshi politician and freedom fighter who played a significant role in the country's independence movement against Pakistan in the 1960s and 1970s.
Jalee Srimanta (born 1936) is a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer, known for her contributions to the Odissi dance form. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her work, including the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors.
Jalee Danjuma (born 1989) is a Nigerian-American fashion model and actress, who has graced the covers of various international magazines and appeared in several films and television shows.
While the name Jalee has remained relatively uncommon globally, it continues to hold significance in certain parts of India and among certain communities, particularly those with ties to the Sanskrit language and Hindu traditions.
People
Jalee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jalee 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
Jalee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jalee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 465 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jalee 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 737,106 US residents.
Is Jalee a common name?
We classify Jalee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 473 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jalee most popular?
The single biggest year for Jalee was 2005, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jalee 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 Jalee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 497 people with the name Jalee, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,692 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 Jalee 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 Jalee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalee leans strongly female. 445 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 57 male bearers (11.4%). 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 Jalee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalee is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Black (20.5%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Jalee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jalee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (302 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 Jalee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jalee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jalee 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 Jalee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jalee 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 Jalee 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 called Jalee?
You can see how many people share the name Jalee on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.