Jaleya
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "dear friend" or "she who shines".
Name Census estimates that about 312 living Americans carry the first name Jaleya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jaleya today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jaleya births was 2012 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jaleya. 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
312
~ 1 in 1,098,572 Americans
Peak year
2012
25 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,495
Tracked since 1998
Census
Jaleya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Jaleya, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jaleya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaleya is Black at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Jaleya 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 Jaleya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.6% · 180
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 24
- Two or more races9.8% · 23
- White3.4% · 8
Popularity
Jaleya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jaleya 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 128 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Jaleya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jaleya 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 Jaleya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jaleyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jaleya
The name Jaleya originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in the Middle Eastern and North African regions. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, around the 7th to 13th centuries CE. The name is derived from the Arabic word "jaliya," which means "clarity" or "brightness."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jaleya can be found in the works of renowned Arabic poets and writers from the golden age of Islamic civilization. It is mentioned in several classical Arabic literary works, including poetry collections and historical accounts from that era.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Jaleya al-Andalusi was a renowned scholar and philosopher from the city of Cordoba in present-day Spain. She was celebrated for her contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy during the height of the Islamic Golden Age in Andalusia.
Another prominent individual with this name was Jaleya bint al-Hussayn, a 13th-century Arab poet and literary figure from Baghdad, Iraq. Her poetry was highly regarded and celebrated for its eloquence and depth, reflecting the cultural richness of the Abbasid Caliphate.
In the 15th century, Jaleya al-Mutanabbi was a prominent Arabic calligrapher and artist from Damascus, Syria. Her intricate calligraphic works adorned the walls of many mosques and palaces throughout the region, showcasing the artistic mastery and cultural heritage of the time.
During the 16th century, Jaleya al-Maghribi was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Morocco. She was widely respected for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the study and interpretation of Sharia law.
It is worth noting that while the name Jaleya has its roots in the Arabic language and culture, it has also been adopted and adapted by various other cultures and communities over the centuries, further enriching its historical significance and diversity.
People
Jaleya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jaleya 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
Jaleya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jaleya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 312 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jaleya 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 1,098,572 US residents.
Is Jaleya a common name?
We classify Jaleya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 315 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jaleya most popular?
The single biggest year for Jaleya was 2012, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jaleya is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jaleya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Jaleya, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Jaleya 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 Jaleya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jaleya appears almost entirely female. Of the 235 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Jaleya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jaleya is Black at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.2%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Jaleya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jaleya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (180 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 Jaleya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jaleya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jaleya 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 Jaleya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jaleya 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 Jaleya 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 named Jaleya?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.