Jameel
A masculine Arabic name meaning "beautiful" or "handsome".
Name Census estimates that about 2,942 living Americans carry the first name Jameel. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Jameel today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jameel births was 1977 (127 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jameel. 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 Jameel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 116,504 Americans
Peak year
1977
127 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,941
Tracked since 1968
Census
Jameel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,672 people with the first name Jameel, which placed it at #6,097 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
#6,097
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,672 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jameel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jameel is Black at 67.9%. The next largest groups are White (11.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.1%). 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 Jameel 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 Jameel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.9% · 1,813
- White11.8% · 314
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.1% · 242
- Two or more races7.0% · 187
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 108
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Jameel
Out of the 3,039 babies given the name Jameel since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Jameel as a male name
- Ranked #4,941 in 2024
- 20 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (123 births)
Jameel as a female name
- Ranked #12,080 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1977 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jameel leans strongly male. 2,597 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 72 female bearers (2.7%).
Popularity
Jameel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jameel from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 769 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jameel 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 Jameel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jameels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Jameel, while Virginia, Mississippi, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 97 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jameel
The name Jameel has its origins in the Arabic language, deriving from the root word "jameel," which means "beautiful" or "handsome." This name's earliest recorded usage dates back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Islamic Golden Age.
The name's popularity can be traced back to its appearance in various Arabic literary works and historical texts from the medieval period. In particular, the name is mentioned in the famous collection of Arabic folk tales, "One Thousand and One Nights," where Jameel is depicted as a character known for his physical attractiveness and romantic endeavors.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Jameel was Jameel ibn Ma'mar al-Udwani, a renowned Arab poet and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. He was celebrated for his contributions to Arabic literature and his mastery of the Arabic language.
In the 11th century, Jameel al-Din al-Afghani, an influential Islamic philosopher and political activist, played a significant role in the Pan-Islamic and anti-colonial movements of the late 19th century. His name, which translates to "the beauty of the faith," reflects the reverence associated with the name.
Another noteworthy figure was Jameel Butayna, a Syrian poet and writer who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century CE. His poetic works, known for their elegance and emotional depth, have been widely studied and admired throughout the centuries.
In more recent history, Jameel Shami, a Palestinian artist and sculptor born in 1908, gained recognition for his intricate wood carvings and sculptures depicting scenes from Palestinian culture and daily life. His artistic legacy has been celebrated both locally and internationally.
The name Jameel has also been borne by several prominent figures in modern times, such as Jameel Ahmad, a British-Pakistani writer and journalist known for his works on Islamic history and culture, and Jameel Jaffer, an American lawyer and human rights advocate who has worked tirelessly to protect civil liberties and challenge government surveillance programs.
People
Jameel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jameel 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
Jameel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jameel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,942 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jameel 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 116,504 US residents.
Is Jameel a common name?
We classify Jameel as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,039 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jameel most popular?
The single biggest year for Jameel was 1977, when 127 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jameel is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jameel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,672 people with the name Jameel, or 0.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,097 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 Jameel 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 Jameel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jameel leans strongly male. 2,597 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 72 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Jameel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jameel is Black at 67.9%. The next largest groups are White (11.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.1%). 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 Jameel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jameel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.9% (1,813 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 Jameel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jameel a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Jameel 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 Jameel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jameel 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 Jameel 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 the name Jameel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.