Jalil
An Arabic name meaning "noble" or "sublime".
Name Census estimates that about 2,837 living Americans carry the first name Jalil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jalil today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jalil births was 2000 (113 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jalil. 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 Jalil with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 120,816 Americans
Peak year
2000
113 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,348
Tracked since 1974
Census
Jalil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,509 people with the first name Jalil, which placed it at #6,407 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
#6,407
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,509 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jalil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalil is Black at 67.2%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Hispanic (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 Jalil 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 Jalil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.2% · 1,685
- White12.2% · 307
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 247
- Two or more races6.4% · 161
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 103
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Jalil
Out of the 2,885 babies given the name Jalil since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jalil as a male name
- Ranked #4,348 in 2024
- 24 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (113 births)
Jalil as a female name
- Ranked #16,352 in 2001
- 5 female births in 2001
- Peak: 2001 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalil leans strongly male. 2,472 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 44 female bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Jalil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jalil 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 1,010 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
Jalil 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 Jalil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jalils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Jalil, while South Carolina, Missouri, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 80 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jalil
The name Jalil is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "jalal," which means "greatness" or "majesty." It is believed to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula during the 7th century, coinciding with the rise of Islam and the spread of the Arabic language.
In Islamic tradition, Jalil is one of the 99 names attributed to Allah, meaning "the Majestic" or "the Sublime." This association with divine greatness likely contributed to the popularity of the name among Muslim communities throughout history.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jalil can be traced back to the early Islamic era, when it was bestowed upon prominent figures and scholars. One notable example is Jalil al-Din al-Suyuti, a renowned Egyptian scholar and theologian who lived from 1445 to 1505 CE.
Throughout the centuries, the name Jalil has been borne by numerous individuals of historical significance. One prominent figure was Jalil Shahi, a 16th-century ruler of the Sur Empire in northern India. Another was Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, an Azerbaijani writer and satirist who played a pivotal role in the development of modern Azerbaijani literature in the early 20th century.
In the realm of Islamic scholarship, Jalil al-Din al-Dawwani, a Persian philosopher and logician who lived from 1426 to 1501 CE, made significant contributions to the field of Islamic philosophy. Additionally, Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, an Azerbaijani writer and satirist who lived from 1866 to 1932, played a crucial role in the development of modern Azerbaijani literature.
Among the notable figures in more recent history, Jalil Andrabi was a Kashmiri politician and activist who advocated for the self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He was born in 1923 and was assassinated in 1996.
While the name Jalil has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in regions with significant Muslim populations. The name's association with majesty and greatness has endured throughout history, making it a respected and revered choice for many families.
People
Jalil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jalil 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
Jalil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jalil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,837 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jalil 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 120,816 US residents.
Is Jalil a common name?
We classify Jalil as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,885 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jalil most popular?
The single biggest year for Jalil was 2000, when 113 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jalil is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jalil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,509 people with the name Jalil, or 0.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,407 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 Jalil 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 Jalil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jalil leans strongly male. 2,472 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 44 female 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 Jalil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jalil is Black at 67.2%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Hispanic (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 Jalil most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jalil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (1,685 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 Jalil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jalil a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Jalil 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 Jalil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jalil 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 Jalil 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 Jalil as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.