Kahlil
A masculine Arabic name meaning "friend" or "companion".
Name Census estimates that about 4,148 living Americans carry the first name Kahlil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kahlil today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kahlil births was 1995 (268 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kahlil. 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 Kahlil with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 82,631 Americans
Peak year
1995
268 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,894
Tracked since 1967
Census
Kahlil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,123 people with the first name Kahlil, which placed it at #5,486 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
#5,486
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kahlil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kahlil is Black at 71.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.3%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Kahlil 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 Kahlil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.3% · 2,226
- Two or more races10.3% · 322
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 275
- White7.5% · 233
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Kahlil
Out of the 4,238 babies given the name Kahlil since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Kahlil as a male name
- Ranked #1,894 in 2024
- 84 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (268 births)
Kahlil as a female name
- Ranked #16,808 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2018 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kahlil leans strongly male. 3,050 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 75 female bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
Kahlil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kahlil 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 1,180 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Kahlil remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kahlil 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 Kahlil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kahlils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Kahlil, while Wisconsin, Missouri, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 109 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kahlil
The name Kahlil has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic word "khalil," which means "friend" or "beloved." The name has been in use since ancient times in the Middle East and North Africa.
In Islam, "Khalil" is one of the names used to refer to the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham in the Christian and Jewish traditions). It is believed that he was given this title because of his close friendship with God. As such, the name Kahlil has a strong association with Islamic culture and religious traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kahlil can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, where it is used to refer to the Prophet Ibrahim. This usage dates back to the 7th century CE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kahlil. One of the most famous was Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), a Lebanese-American poet, philosopher, and artist. He is best known for his poetic work "The Prophet," which has been translated into more than 100 languages.
Another notable figure was Kahlil al-Ghuri (1466-1516), the second sultan of the Mamluk Burji dynasty in Egypt. He is remembered for his military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and his patronage of architecture, including the construction of several mosques and madrasas.
In the realm of science, Kahlil ibn Ahmad al-Nahwi (fl. 10th century CE) was an Arab grammarian and scholar who wrote extensively on Arabic linguistics and grammar.
The name Kahlil has also been borne by religious figures, such as Kahlil ibn Ahmad (1211-1286), a renowned Sufi mystic and poet from present-day Iran.
Lastly, Kahlil Baidas (1917-2003) was a prominent Egyptian writer and journalist who played a significant role in the Arab literary renaissance during the 20th century.
These examples demonstrate the rich history and cultural significance of the name Kahlil across various fields, from literature and philosophy to religion, politics, and academia.
People
Kahlil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kahlil as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kahlil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kahlil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kahlil 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 82,631 US residents.
Is Kahlil a common name?
We classify Kahlil as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,238 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kahlil most popular?
The single biggest year for Kahlil was 1995, when 268 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kahlil is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kahlil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,123 people with the name Kahlil, or 1.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,486 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 Kahlil 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 Kahlil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kahlil leans strongly male. 3,050 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 75 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Kahlil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kahlil is Black at 71.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.3%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Kahlil most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kahlil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.3% (2,226 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 Kahlil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kahlil a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Kahlil 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 Kahlil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kahlil 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 Kahlil 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 Kahlil?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Kahlil on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.