Jarah
A feminine Persian name meaning "wound" or "pouring blood".
Name Census estimates that about 430 living Americans carry the first name Jarah. It is a predominantly female name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Jarah today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jarah births was 2008 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jarah. 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
430
~ 1 in 797,103 Americans
Peak year
2008
21 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2013 SSA rank
#10,658
Tracked since 1976
Census
Jarah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 474 people with the first name Jarah, which placed it at #21,431 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
#21,431
National first-name rank
People counted
474
474 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jarah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jarah is White at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.2%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Jarah 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 Jarah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.4% · 253
- Black or African American23.2% · 110
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 55
- Two or more races6.3% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Jarah
Jarah leans heavily female at 97.5% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jarah as a male name
- Ranked #12,936 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 1999 (6 births)
Jarah as a female name
- Ranked #10,658 in 2023
- 9 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2008 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jarah leans strongly female. 399 people counted with this name were female (85.1%), compared with 70 male bearers (14.9%).
Popularity
Jarah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jarah 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 136 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
Jarah 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 Jarah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jarah
The name Jarah is believed to have originated from the Arabic language, where it is a feminine form derived from the root word "jara," meaning "to flow" or "to run." This name has its roots in the Middle Eastern region and can be traced back to ancient times.
In Islamic tradition, Jarah is mentioned as a female companion of the Prophet Muhammad, known for her wisdom and piety. She lived during the 7th century CE and is remembered for her contributions to the early Muslim community.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jarah can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab historian and scholar, Al-Tabari, who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. He documented the life of a woman named Jarah who was a prominent figure in the early Islamic era.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jarah. One such example is Jarah al-Hadrami, a respected Islamic scholar and jurist who lived in the 12th century CE. He was renowned for his expertise in Islamic law and his teachings had a significant influence on the intellectual landscape of the time.
Another prominent figure was Jarah bint Malik, a woman who lived during the 7th century CE and was known for her courage and devotion to the Islamic faith. She played a crucial role in the early battles of Islam and is remembered as a symbol of strength and resilience.
In the 13th century, Jarah al-Qudsi was a renowned Sufi mystic and poet from Jerusalem. Her spiritual writings and poetic compositions were widely celebrated and continue to inspire people to this day.
Jarah al-Andalusi, born in the 11th century in Andalusia (modern-day Spain), was a prominent female scholar and poet. She made significant contributions to the literary and intellectual circles of her time, and her works were highly regarded for their eloquence and depth.
It is worth noting that while the name Jarah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic tradition, it has also gained popularity in various cultures and regions around the world, sometimes with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation.
People
Jarah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jarah 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
Jarah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jarah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 430 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jarah 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 797,103 US residents.
Is Jarah a common name?
We classify Jarah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 444 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jarah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jarah was 2008, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jarah is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jarah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 474 people with the name Jarah, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,431 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 Jarah 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 Jarah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jarah leans strongly female. 399 people counted with this name were female (85.1%), compared with 70 male bearers (14.9%). 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 Jarah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jarah is White at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.2%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Jarah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jarah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.4% (253 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 Jarah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jarah a female name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Jarah 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 Jarah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jarah 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 Jarah 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 Jarah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.