Jaleigha
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly from a blend of the names Jade and Leigh.
Name Census estimates that about 492 living Americans carry the first name Jaleigha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jaleigha today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jaleigha births was 2012 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jaleigha. 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
492
~ 1 in 696,655 Americans
Peak year
2012
32 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,741
Tracked since 1995
Census
Jaleigha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 307 people with the first name Jaleigha, which placed it at #29,019 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
#29,019
National first-name rank
People counted
307
307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jaleigha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaleigha is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (18.2%) and White (5.2%). 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 Jaleigha 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 Jaleigha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.0% · 218
- Two or more races18.2% · 56
- White5.2% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Jaleigha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jaleigha from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 245 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jaleigha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jaleigha 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 Jaleigha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaleighas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jaleigha
The name Jaleigha has its roots in a blend of English and Arabic origins, emerging in the late 20th century as a modern variation of the traditional name Leah. The prefix "Ja" is believed to be derived from the Arabic word "Jal," meaning noble or exalted, while the latter part "Leigha" stems from the Hebrew name Leah, signifying "weary" or "tired."
This unique combination of cultural influences reflects the growing trend of creating distinctive names by fusing elements from diverse linguistic backgrounds. Although the exact origin of the name Jaleigha is somewhat obscure, it is thought to have gained popularity in certain regions of the United States and the United Kingdom in the latter part of the 20th century.
Historical records do not reveal any notable figures bearing the name Jaleigha prior to the modern era. However, the name has been adopted by a handful of individuals in recent decades, including Jaleigha Glover, an American actress and model known for her roles in television series such as "Queen Sugar" and "David Makes Man."
Another individual with this name is Jaleigha Price, a Canadian basketball player who represented her country in international competitions. Jaleigha Bekhit is an Egyptian entrepreneur and business coach, while Jaleigha Reese is an American social media influencer and content creator.
Additionally, Jaleigha Moss is a British author and poet who has published several works exploring themes of identity and self-discovery. While these individuals may not be widely recognized on a historical scale, their accomplishments and contributions across various fields have helped to establish the name Jaleigha in contemporary times.
People
Jaleigha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jaleigha 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
Jaleigha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jaleigha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 492 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jaleigha 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 696,655 US residents.
Is Jaleigha a common name?
We classify Jaleigha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 497 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jaleigha most popular?
The single biggest year for Jaleigha was 2012, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jaleigha is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jaleigha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 307 people with the name Jaleigha, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,019 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 Jaleigha 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 Jaleigha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaleigha appears almost entirely female. Of the 300 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jaleigha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaleigha is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (18.2%) and White (5.2%). 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 Jaleigha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jaleigha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (218 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 Jaleigha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jaleigha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jaleigha 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 Jaleigha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jaleigha 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 Jaleigha 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 common is the name Jaleigha?
Want to know how many people share the name Jaleigha? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.